But One Truth 2: Mission to the Deep Space
by The Exile
Summary: While Chisato is on a mission to explore the world beyond the Styx Gate, the other reporters are being killed in alphabetical order and the child they are looking after is kidnapped. The second of Chisato's adventures post-SO2.
1. Chapter 1

1

"Where is my son?"

Luther looked up just in time as a bolt of ethereal energy crashed into  
the sedan sofa he lounged on, instantly reducing it to charred  
splinters. Switching from a state of complete relaxation to martial  
alertness in half a second, he unhooked his black spear from its resting  
place on the wall and turned to face the open window.

His lover was as beautiful as he remembered. Her flowing golden hair was  
tied back with a silver clasp and several pins. She wore a green silk  
dress with matching boots and hat. Her skin was soft and radiant, her  
body lithe and deadly, a warrior's figure. Framed in the windowsill  
against the pale moonlight, her hair blew in the icy breeze. The  
expression on her face was one of carefully controlled fury. There was a  
reason she was called 'The Moody Goddess'.

"Freya, my dear." he smiled and gestured towards the remains of the  
sofa, "Come in. Do have a seat."

"I asked you a question!" she replied coldly.

"As I said in the message, I have located our son's kidnappers."

"Then he was abducted." she hissed, "I will flay them alive for all  
eternity."

"Unfortunately for them, their digital security is rather lax. My  
hackers managed to track their signal. Would you like the coordinates  
uploaded directly onto your ship's computer, my lady?"

A cruel smile played over her lips, like a cat with a mouse between her  
paws. Then a loud beep interrupted her moment of pleasure. Annoyed, she  
whipped her head around to look at a device on her arm. It looked like a  
simple watch except that it was flashing red, beeping and displaying the  
number thirty.

"Are we late for something, my lady Goddess?" he gave her a slightly  
mocking smile.

"I'm not the one who's late." she replied, her tone and her face  
suddenly businesslike, "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be able to enjoy  
our revenge personally. Do not fail me."

"I won't." he promised. He knew full well the price of failing to comply  
with any of her requests. Besides, he wanted their son back as much as  
he did.

"I'm relying on you." she said, before turning around and jumping back  
out of the window.

Luther picked up his pager and dialled for security.

"What's wrong, Gwesty?"

It was the dead of night - as much as it could be on a space station.  
Actually, the time of day was carefully regulated by the life-support  
systems so that the inhabitants could enjoy a healthy circadian rhythm.  
The life-support systems, along with every other system on the station,  
were monitored by the central computer and the Director, Marietta la  
Verne, who was its operator. Secure in the knowledge that the computer  
hardly ever malfunctioned, Motoi had been sound asleep when Gwesty  
appeared in his room. In her long white nightgown, with her bright  
golden hair tied into braids, a slightly gormless expression on her  
face, she looked a little like a ghost.

Gwesty hadn't aged much over the years. She looked like the same lost  
child who had been picked up in an escape pod speeding away from an  
exploding shp ten years ago, only taller and more ungainly. She badly  
needed a haircut. Motoi, on the other hand, had grown into a handsome  
young man, with oriental features, straight black hair and a penchant  
for perfectly pressed black suits. It was a shame that he hardly ever  
left the space station and didn't really fancy any of the girls on  
board. Gwesty was too much like a sister to him, Marietta had the  
personality of a toaster and Chisato was too old for him and annoyingly  
hyperactive. He had an online girlfriend but for all he knew, she could  
be a 40 year old man in the offline world.

"I had a dream..." she said vaguely.

"Was it a bad dream?"

"I dunno." she scratched her head, "There was a bunny."

"There's always a bunny." observed Motoi, "You're obsessed with  
bunnies."

"I didn't like this bunny."

"Did it bite you?"

"It spoke to me." she said, "It kept asking me to follow it."

"Was it a white rabbit?"

"P... pardon?"

"An Eternal Sphere saying." he explained, amused by the confused look  
she gave him.

"It also said I was in danger." she said, her hands shaking, "It said...  
it said someone was after me. What if... what if its a Prophecy?"

"Don't worry." said Motoi, putting an arm around her shoulder to  
reassure her, "You're probably just remembering the past. We've been  
through a lot. But we're safe now. Nobody will dare touch us here on the  
Chronicle. They'd have to get through the automated defense systems.  
Even if they got on board, Marietta would kill them."

"You're right." she said, sighing and leaning against him, her eyes  
half-closed. She was warm and had a nice smell.

"I'd better get back to sleep." he said, yawning.

"Oh, yes, you've got a performance tomorrow, haven't you?"

He nodded. "Lionel's performing at the Grand Concert Hall on the Eternal  
Sphere. I'm backing him up over the sound system."

"That's your home planet!" her face brightened, "You might get a chance  
to go down there! Motoi, you have to try and persuade  
Marietta to let you go!"

"I'll be very busy." he said, "The sound system takes a lot of setting  
up. But if we get time after the concert, I'll ask her."

She smiled at him.

"To tell you the truth." he added, "I don't remember my home planet.  
My father sent me away to a satellite when I was five, and I've been  
there most of my life."

"You should visit your family anyway. I'm sure they miss you."

"I'm sure you're right." he said, stroking her hair. She had fallen  
asleep in his lap. He sighed, put her on the bed and went to sleep on  
the floor.  
--


	2. Chapter 2

If I ever see him again, the mage will kill me/  
For the resurrection, the healer says he'll bill me

But my willpower's stalling/  
I know it will fail/  
My stats are appalling/  
His are off the scale

I sent him some flowers in stealth, it took me ages/  
But I was found out, damn those high level mages

He has got no manners/  
He drives me berserk/  
When he throws the spanners/  
Right into the works

You are to blame, still to blame/  
I'll die in flames, in the flames/  
I've lost this game, lost the game/  
And you are to blame, still blame

The crowd went wild. They chanted the words along with him, the front  
row dancing like maniacs and screaming at the tops of their voices.  
Lionel Deguares' hands ran over his customised  
guitar with exoert dexterity as he sang in his rich, surprisingly gentle  
voice. He usually sang Game Over tunes but he wanted to play a popular  
song on the Eternal Sphere, as he wasn't too sure what the unfamiliar  
audience would like. So he played 'Mission To The Deep Space'. Everyone  
knew 'Mission To The Deep Space'. It was one of those songs that had  
some variant on every planet in the galaxy. This version was a love  
song. Although it was originally dedicated to a man, he couldn't help  
thinking about Marietta la Verne, with her perfect features and long  
blue hair, her brilliant mind and the way she protected the entire  
space station with such efficient ease. Although he pretended that he  
was trying to make an intergalactic career for himself, the real reason  
that he didn't go back to Elicoor was because he wanted to be by  
Marietta's side.

Then he noticed the yelling and commotion from the crowd. Thirty  
security guards, all armed with laser rifles and dressed in combat  
armour, poured into the room. The crowd grudgingly parted for them. The  
guards filed in, organised themselves into formation, pointed their  
rifles at him and...

Two of them fell before their comrades even registered the presence of  
the attacker - cut down in a flash of blue and a spray of blood. A  
man, initially just another person in the crowd, had leapt from his  
seat, drawn a cybernetic meta-blade and assaulted the nearest guard. He  
was relatively slight of build, but heavily cybernetically augmented -he  
wore black cybernetic armour with status lights that flickered blue in the  
darkness. It was too close range to fire at him, so the remaining guards  
drew electro-batons and rushed him. He casually disarmed two more and  
thrust the blade into the chest of another. The other guards turned back  
to Lionel.

Shouldering his guitar, Lionel grabbed his pager and punched the big red  
emergency button. The signal was transmitted to the ship that orbitted  
the planet, where Jan Orvue hit the switch on the teleporter. Just as  
laser fire thudded into the stage, Lionel Deguares materialised in the  
waiting ship.

"Leave orbit! Now!" he gasped.

"Are we under attack?"

"The security turned on me." explained Deguares. Just then, an alarm  
sounded. Orvue turned to look at the navigation window. Five small blips  
were now speeding towards the ship in an attack formation.

"They're pursuing us!" said Orvue, "Lionel, what did you do?"

"What the... this is NOT my fault!" yelled the musician, "Just pick up  
speed and let's get out of here, okay?"

Sighing, Orvue typed in a command to set the ship's speed to maximum and  
prepare evasive maneouvres. Then he sent an emergency signal to the  
space station. A comm window flashed up and Marietta's face appeared.

"Is there a problem?" she asked, her voice like a recorded message.

"We're under attack!" he said, "Security ships. They're following us out  
of orbit!"

"How many of them?"

Orvue looked at the screen again. Before there had been five ships. Now  
there were ten more.

"I'll activate our defences." said the Director.

"Director... I think this is one of... you know... THOSE attacks."

She nodded, "Mr. Degaures is next on the list."

Deguares' face paled. So it was true. He was next. The staff of the Nede  
Chronicle were being assassinated in alphabetical order. He remembered  
the day when they found the corpse of Genevieve Adolkristin, her throat  
cut, in a public internet booth in Tetragene. They never had found the  
killers.

"You will have to be kept under heavy guard." she told him, "I will  
monitor everyone from D through F."

"Do we have any information on why this is happening?" asked Deguares,  
"Who do we know who has a grudge against us?"

"Only half the galaxy." said Orvue, laughing at his own grim humour,  
"There's a down side to being the only honest press in the galaxy."

"Whoever is behind the attacks, their authority and influence is  
superior to that of most planetary governments." Marietta told them,  
"They have been able to consistantly hire the best assassins and even  
bribe corporate security forces. They have contacts on every planet and  
have evaded every attempt to track them down. We've lost A through C."

"Don't be so casual about it!" yelled Deguares, "Your surname begins  
with L! You don't have that long!"

"I am perfectly capable of defending myself." she said without emotion.

Suddenly, a tremor rocked the ship and the shields flared bright green  
as laser cannon fire strafed them. Orvue diverted power to the shields.

"They're gaining on us!" he yelled.

The Director's mouth opened to answer them, then she turned to look at  
another display terminal. Her normally expressionless face looked  
worried.

"An urgent matter has come up." she announced, "You are close to Nede  
Chronicle airspace. The defense systems will activate soon, so you  
should be out of danger. However, I'm afraid I can't help you. I must  
attend to the emergency."

"But this is an emergency!" yelled Deguares.

"Lionel... if the Director says its more important, its more important."  
Orvue laid a hand on his shoulder, "I'm worried about what's gone wrong.  
Expect some trouble when we get home, okay?"

"Oh, great." sighed Deguares.

"If we get home." addended Orvue as laser fire hit the shields again.  
--


	3. Chapter 3

Gwesty blinked but it didn't go away.

She pinched herself but the pain didn't wake her up. She tried turning  
to look at the digital clock integrated into the wall. It said 6am. It  
didn't change or do anything weird. She gave up. It wasn't a dream.

Climbing out of her bed, she walked over to the apparition to inspect it  
more closely. It was either a ghost or a hologram. As she reached out to  
touch it, static shock rushed up her arm and made her hair stand on end.  
The creature shifted and appeared a few inches away.

It was a rabbit. A lot larger than an average rabbit, it was about half  
the size of a human. It wore a labcoat and carried a clipboard. It  
regarded Gwesty with its beady little eyes, an expression of clinical  
detachment.

"It has grown urgent." it insisted, "You are in great danger. You must  
come with me now."

"I'll be okay." she said, "Its very safe here."

"It is not safe from this enemy." it told her.

"What enemy?"

"It is not safe to talk about it. She can hear us."

"Where do you suggest we go, then?"

"Follow me."

The strange rabbit walked briskly over to the door and vanished through  
it without opening it. Gwesty carefully opened the door so it wouldn't  
wake anyone and stepped out into the corridor.

The corridor wasn't there any more.

Stepping out into thin air, she yelped as she fell down. A yellow beam  
of light snapped up and slowed her fall, so that she gently floated down  
into it and landed in a circular metal platform. I'll never get used to  
technology, she thought, straightening her dress and trying to control  
her spinning head.

"Apprentice!" snapped a voice, "The outside teleporter's still ten feet  
off! I thought I told you to fix it!"

"Yes sir! Sorry, sir!" replied a voice. The precise upper-class Earth  
accent betrayed contempt.

Looking down, Gwesty saw that the first voice belonged to a familiar  
face. The rabbit was there, solid and furry this time. His apprentice, a  
tall young man with handsome, bespectacled features, wearing a  
scholar's travelling robe and carrying a book under one arm, walked out.

"So sorry about him." said the rabbit, "He's an idiot."

Gwesty just stared. She had never seen anything like this room. A  
cylindrical chamber made of a dark material somewhere between steel and  
glass, dotted with lights that twinkled red and blue, it was filled with  
machines that ticked and hummed with cogs and wheels. In the middle were  
two small booths, just large enough to fit a child or a giant rabbit.  
Each booth had a dial with a number on it, and a lever next to it. The  
machines clicked as the number changed.

"Where am I?" she demanded.

"Permit me to introduce myself." he bowed, his floppy ears falling  
comically over his face, "My name is Arianrod F. Rabillion, and this is  
the Tower of Arianrod, my laboratory."

"What do you mean, gone?"

"Gone." repeated the security guard, gasping for breath.

Motoi was still disentangling himself from the various cables that  
connected him to the sound systems.  
He preferred a direct interface with the machines. It was much faster to relay  
signals from his brain directly to a machine than, say, via a keyboard.  
The system had been deactivated abruptly when Deguares sent the  
emergency signal, and Motoi felt dizzy from the sudden disconnection.  
His awareness was still somewhere in between the hectic broadcasting  
station and the warm, dark digital existence. Emergency lights were  
flashing on and off and reporters were running around.

"Are you sure she hasn't just fallen asleep in my room again?"

"She's nowhere on the satellite." said the guard, "We performed a  
thorough search. The cameras picked up nothing. We don't know in  
which direction she went. No records of any ships entering or leaving  
the ports. No ships are even missing. She just stepped out of the door  
and stopped existing."

"What about teleporters?" asked Motoi.

"There was a small electrical disturbance that could possibly have been  
a teleporter, but where its gone to, I have no idea. Whoever sent it  
went straight through our teleport shields."

"The dream..." muttered Motoi.

"The boss says this is an intergalactic emergency." said the security  
guard, "She'll have my head if I don't find that girl soon. Do you have  
any idea where she might have gone? You're the only person who she  
speaks to."

"Well... there's one possibility... she has..." he  
bowed his head, "She has disappeared before..."

"What happened then?"

"I found her." he said, "I could try the same thing again, but I'm not  
sure how effective it will be."

"Its worth a try. We have nothing else we can do."

Motoi nodded. "I'll need to be alone with the sound system."

The guard left the room, leaving him to prepare the machines for the new  
task. He knew he would need three things - a certain song, absolute  
concentration and the full extent of his bardic powers. The sirens,  
laser fire and constant sounds of people running around and screaming  
were beginning to annoy him. His room was supposed to be sound proofed.

He turned the volume up to maximum, plugged himself in and searched his  
vast repository of intergalactic music for 'New World', the song he used  
to follow Gwesty into her world of Prophecy. He selected it and closed  
his eyes.

To his surprise, the song that played wasn't 'New World'. It was a song  
he had never heard before, one from an archive he hadn't explored yet.  
It was called 'Illuminating Magic Links'. It was a simple song that had  
no words but it was beautiful.

As Motoi listened he could see in his mind's eye the black-robed  
cultists swaying rhythmically to the music, their eyes possessed, their  
dull voices chanting over and over again - GOHR-LA! GOHR-LA! He saw  
himself, their bone-masked heirophant, playing in an old gothic church  
with leering gargoyles that shifted in the corner of the eye and  
circles of eldritch runes scrawled on the floor. Then the song changed  
to 'Ancient Fantasies Eternal' and he saw an endless descent into a  
cavern full of the bones of wyrms. 'Reflections of Trickery' brought  
visions of a verdant, untamed forest whose emerald canopy hid an Elven  
kingdom. 'Vestigial Dream', a song of such primordial horror and  
soul-crushing despair that he was rooted to the spot, unable to reach  
the 'off' switch.

Finally, one song came on and decided to put itself on continuous play.  
Motoi was surprised to find that it was a song he knew well. Everyone  
knew it. Everyone requested it. He had heard it so many times that it  
was beginning to annoy him.

It was 'Mission to the Deep Space'.  
--


	4. Chapter 4

"You." declared Gwesty, "Are a strange-looking Bunny."

She stared at the urbane rabbit as he sat at his antique wooden  
desk and wrote in a thick leatherbound tome with a XINE-feather quill.  
The room was full of bizare scientific apparatus - test tubes full of  
bubbling, fizzing liquids, pickled things in jars, live things in cages  
(including a disembodied hand that scrabbled and pulled at the bars) and  
machnes - more of those strange machines that ticked rhythmically. A  
bookshelf filled with arcane tomes lined one wall and another was  
covered in runes.

"Have you never seen a Retail Rabbit before?" he peered at her from  
underneath his spectacles, "We're all over the galaxy, child, where have  
they been keeping you?"

"Um... well, I've heard of Retail Rabbits but I haven't met one." she  
looked at the floor, "I don't leave the space station very often. It's  
not safe."

"Quite reasonable, I suppose." he muttered, "At least they're taking  
some measures to protect you. But it won't be enough."

"What do you mean?" she looked up at him again, her eyes wide with  
fright.

"Are you aware that your Performance Rating is dangerously low?"

"My what?"

"My, my, so you don't even know what a Performance Rating is." he gave  
her a disapproving look, "Do you have any training? Any information? Are  
you even aware of being a Valkyrie?"

"Valkyrie? I'm not a Valkyrie!"

His eyes seemed to glaze over as she said that last sentence, as though  
he was looking at something else as well as her.  
"We have no use for a faulty machine." he breathed.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?" she shrieked, reaching out a hand to grab a  
nearby rabbit ear. The scientist retracted his ears downwards and her  
hand went harmlessly over his head.

"I apologise for my rudeness. Let me explain properly." said the  
scientist, "A Valkyrie performs a very important function. Their  
decisions - both bad and good - can affect the entire galaxy, even the  
rest of the Universe outside Tria. For that reason, the  
actions of Valkyries are... monitored. The balance of good and bad  
decisions you make - that is your Performance Rating."

Gwesty fixed him a glare of antipathy. His explanation wasn't exactly  
flattering. First he called her faulty. Now he was criticising her  
decisions - and she had never even met the man before! And what was all  
this about someone watching her?

"Who is watching me?" she demanded.

"No less than Freya herself."

Gwesty gasped. Freya! The head of the Council of Tria... the fearsome  
galactic leader who was worshipped on some underdeveloped planets as a  
goddess of battle. Other religions said she was an aspect of Tria. She  
was supposed to be gone. Disappeared around two hundred years ago. None  
of the remaining Valkyries knew what happened. Some say she simply  
merged with Tria again, tired of existence within the shackles of a  
frail mortal body in such a mundane realm. Whatever the case, she wasn't  
a good person to have watching you.

"Is she the one I should be scared of? Does she want to harm me?" asked  
Gwesty.

"If a Valkyrie's performance rating goes below a certain number, Freya  
hunts her down and deactivates her." said the rabbit, "It won't be death  
- you will still have a soul and a body - but it won't be you any more.  
It'll be a different Valkyrie, and you'll be locked away until you can  
be repaired, if there's anyone with the free time to repair you, or for  
eternity."

"But..." she stammered, "I'm not a Valkyrie! I'm not even old enough to  
have a job! I'm just a little girl!"

"This puzzles me as well." he admitted, "A child is not usually made a  
Valkyrie. A child of your age wouldn't even have lived long enough to  
accumulate a bad performance rating. At any rate, you should have been  
trained before you were given any missions, and you obviously haven't  
been. That your performance rating has decreased so drastically in such a short  
space of time... I don't think you are a faulty machine, Gwesty. I think  
the machine that makes Valkyries is faulty."

"Will you stop calling me a machine?" she yelled, "That thing over there  
is a machine! I'm a person!"

"I apologise again. I am like you. I don'ot leave this laboratory  
often." he said, "But I have good news. I thiink I know of a way to fix  
what's wrong with you."

"Really? And then Freya won't hurt me?"

He nodded. "All you have to do is trust me. Trust me and do everything I  
say."

"What is it you want me to do?"

"For now, get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Luther stood before the observation screen in his security room,  
watching the exchange of laser fire before the space station. In his  
meta-armour, fashioned in the style of a Roman Legionairre, over his  
black tunic with the company logo in gold brocade, his spear slung over  
his shoulder, he was dressed for war. His chief security officer, a  
towering, bald black man, explained to him in more detail what was  
happening.

"Are you telling me." said Luther, his blue eyes flashing, "That we're  
losing?"

"I'm sorry, sir." the huge man saluted.

"How can we be losing? We're the third largest corporation in the galaxy  
and they're a tiny broadcasting station!"

"We could annihilate them, sir... if we field our entire army." he  
explained, "But that would be a foolish decision. Our forces are already  
spread thinly. We have a branch on every planet. We're hard pressed to  
ensure order. Besides... think what it would do to our public reputation  
if we destroyed a broadcasting station!"

"They've got my son!"

"With all due respect, sir, I'd suggest negotiating with them."

"Negotiate? The President of the Eternal Sphere Corporation does not  
negotiate!" he thumped his hand on the display panel, accidentally  
changing the settings and turning the volume up so that the explosions  
were deafeningly loud. The officer sighed and turned it down again.

"Calm down, sir..."

Suddenly, the communications channel buzzed. Luther pressed a button and  
his secretary's face appeared on the screen.

"Sir, you have a private guest requesting an urgent meeting."

"Who is it?" he wondered if it was Freya. If so, was she angry? Would  
she kill him for failing to find their son? Was she still worried about  
the beeping watch thing? What was that thing, anyway?

"A man called Shigeo."

"Never heard of him." said Luther.

"He says its very, very urgent."

Luther sighed.  
"I've got more urgent things to deal with right now." he said, "Tell him  
to come back tomorrow."

The secretary's face disappeared and Luther turned back to the security  
officer.

"Retreat for now." he ordered, "If a frontal assault won't work, we'll  
have to send someone in stealth."

"Yes, sir."

He turned on his heel and walked out of the office. When he was halfway  
down the corridor, his pager beeped. It was the secretary again.

"Sir, the man's gone."

"Good." said Luther.

"Sir, you don't understand. The man just disappeared. Teleported right  
through our sensors. We have no idea where he's gone."

Luther drew his spear and ran.  
--


	5. Chapter 5

Gwesty did not sleep well.

Her sleep was plagued by nightmares in which she ran, pursued by  
something wild, angry, powerful. Although she could not see its face,  
she heard the rumble of chariot wheels, the clash of steel, the roar of  
flames. She tasted the acrid tang of blood, choked on the smell of  
smoke. All around her, war, pandemonium, the dreadful flapping of wings.  
She ran through the rain of steel, showers of blood and burning  
feathers, as a pendulum swung and a toneless voice rang out from the  
cold, merciless darkness:

"No use for a faulty machine... faulty machine... faulty machine..."

She sat bolt upright, screaming, lashing out and scratching at the thing  
that grabbed her and shook her awake. It stepped back and tried to hold  
her at arms length like an angry cat being given a pill. She recognised  
the tall, lanky features and soft brown hair of Arianrod's appentice.

"Oh, I'm sorry." she said, relaxing, "I thought you were my nightmare."

"I'm used to it." he said, smoothing back his hair. Gwesty suddenly felt  
deeply guilty. The strange rabbit obviously wasn't treating him well. It  
was wrong to mistreat your apprentices, no matter how useless they were.

"Please, come with me." said the young man. Gwesty yawned, stretched and  
climbed out of the bed.

"I'm hungry." she said.

"The machine is ready." he said, "Mr. Arianrod says to come  
immediately."

Gwesty shrugged and followed him out of the door and into a room with  
the numbered levers, which he idly operated, looking bored. Gwesty  
looked up at him.

"You still haven't told me your name."

"Lezard Valeth." he told her, bowing, "At your service."

"So, Mr. Valeth..." she tried to think of something else to say.  
She wanted to talk  
to him but had no idea what to say in this situation. She didn't want to  
pester him about his personal life because that was what Chisato did and  
it was very rude. She looked at the numbered lever contraption. She  
realised that she had no idea how it worked. Maybe she could ask him  
about that? Then he began humming to himself, his voice full of sweet  
melancholy. Gwesty recognised the tune.

"Isn't that 'Beast of Prey'?" she asked. He nodded. "Mr. Lionel sings  
that all the time. Its a pretty song."

"Never heard of him." Lezard shrugged, before pulling the lever. Her  
vision swirled and she felt slightly faint as she was shifted to the  
thirteenth floor. She had never been good with teleporters. "Its not a  
well known song where I'm from. I'm surprised you've heard of it."

"Hm? Its really popular on the space station!" she told him, trailing  
behind him as he walekd briskly down the corridor, "You should hear  
Lionel sing it."

"Tell me, what is it like to live among the stars?" Lezard stared at the  
ceiling, deep in thought.

"Well, its, um..." Gwesty scratched her head, "Its confusing. You can't  
tell up from down and it makes you dizzy. I don't like space travel. Or  
teleporters."

"Fascinating..." muttered Lezard as he pushed open the door. Gwesty felt  
an icy hand grip her soul. Although the lighting hadn't changed, it  
seemed darker, a chill wind blowing through the room. She was transfixed by two  
lights in the corner of  
the room, hollow cracks that were eyes, vacuums that seemed to drain all hope from  
her. The blue screen of death, the mirror of a shattered future,  
reflected back at her in those soullesseyes. Claws that could slice through dreams clicked like a swinging  
pendulum. A terrible growling, a sound not unlike someone trying to  
flush nails down a sink, echoed through the room.

"Come in." said Arianrod's voice. She could not move. Fear rooted her to  
the spot. "Don't worry, its only the Phane. It won't hurt you. Its in a  
binding circle."

Gwesty took a tentative step forward. She was not dismembered and her  
soul was not ripped from her body. She sighed with relief. Now she could  
see the dull red and blue glow of the intricate pattern of runes that  
held back the thing that she could not see, the thing that seemed to  
generate its own field of darkness, madness and despair. As Lezard  
shuffled in behind her, it stopped growling and began whispering in a  
voice that sounded like a rusty cheese grater. She could feel the  
apprentice's distress.

"It seems to like him." commented Arianrod, "We have no idea why. I  
think it is behaving oddly because it was raised in captivity."

"What is it?" gasped Gwesty, "What kind of an egg would it come from?  
Why... would something like THAT ever exist? Who would ever want one?"

"Its a vile thing, I know, but rather useful." explained Arianrod, "They  
eat their own kind, you see. They're made of... they're the result of  
the bad consequences at the end of the downwards spiral of a Valkyrie  
with a low performance rating. Paradox backlash. Entropy. Span death.  
The destruction of worlds. The C ending... Freya calls it a C ending."

"I want you to let it consume your C ending." he said, "And you are  
destined for one, girl, if you leave these walls. It has already been  
set into motion. Space and time are different here in the Tower. This is  
the only place where this can be done. Will you offer up your narrative  
arc to the Phane?"

"W... well..." she looked back into the dark corner, terrified. It  
wasn't there any more. Pouncing faster than any cat, it had stopped in  
front of Lezard and was pulling his ears.

"Stop that!" snapped Lezard, grabbing back a slightly charred clump of  
hair that it had attempted to eat. It chuckled, a noise like chalk on a  
blackboard, stole his purse and sprang back into the far corner of the  
room.

"Okay." muttered Gwesty. The rabbit held up his arms theatrically.

"Now the ritual may begin!"

Luther looked around.

Nobody was there. His cybernetic radar reassured him once again that  
this was the case. And yet, somehow, the lights in his office had been  
turned off. He opened a panel to turn them back on. The computer did not  
respond. It no longer recognised him as root user. Shrugging, he walked  
over to his desk. Nothing else had been disturbed. If a hacker had  
invaded his systems, they had done a clean job of it and left no traces.  
The alarms would have picked up an ordinary hacker immediately.

Before his enhanced senses could register the presence of the other, a  
sword appeared at his back. He cocked his head to look over his  
shoulder. A tall man in heavy cybernetic armour stood behind him. His  
sensors flashed blue in the dark.

"My name is Shigeo." he said, his voice low, dangerous and slightly  
metallic.

"Never heard of you."

"I will ask you once." he whispered, his breathing heavy and mechanical,  
"Where is Jibril?"

"I don't know any Jibril."

"A job interview. Two years ago." he prompted, "Do you remember?"

"I'm not the human resources department. I can't be expected to..."

With a hiss, a gloved hand appeared before Luther, waving an object  
before his face. It was a mask. Forged from some sort of metal - Luther  
was no expert in interplanetary metallurgy - it was engraved ornately to  
resemble a mime with two vacant eyes. It was wrapped in green cloth.  
Thick black wires, severed near the stem as though simply wrenched from  
whatever they had been plugged into, sprawled from the inside of the  
mask like a dead spider's legs.

"We found this outside the ruins of the office that day." he said, "We  
know he died, because he would rather die than let someone else take his  
mask off. We know he died horribly, probably as the result of  
experimentation, because nobody knows how to take that mask off, not  
even Jibril."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"One last chance. Where... is... Jibril?"

There was a whine as a photon blade swung around. Luther barely moved in  
time as the blade slashed down. Flexing his fingers, he grabbed his  
black spear and dove back. Pain shot down his left side. Shigeo's blade  
had not entirely missed him.

They circled each other across the spacious, darkened office, each  
analysing the other's movements through the sensors of top-of-the-range  
combat cyberware. After a few moments, Shigeo attacked again, his blade  
arcing in a combination of strokes that forced Luther to jump back. He  
jumped onto the desk, propelled himself into the air and brought the  
spear down onto Shigeo's head. Shigeo moved, already at the other side  
of the room, brought up a meta-shield and braced himself against  
Luther's furious thrusts. They turned to face one another again. With a  
mental command, Luther's psuedoheraldic technique engine turned on. He  
darted under the desk and began focussing his will. His source of energy  
was the core of the Eternal Sphere game world itself. Bending reality  
through the sudden godlike administrative privelages he had there, he  
twisted it into a well of psychic energy that he dragged back into the  
offline world. Every iota of his will was focussed into one thought:

Insanity Prelude.

Shigeo's servo-motors whined as he jumped onto the desk, powered his  
meta-blade up to full and carved the desk in half.

"What have you done to him?" he repeated.  
--


	6. Chapter 6

As Gwesty walked into the middle of the summoning circle, the mechanical  
hum that pervaded the entire building grew louder and the runes glowed  
brighter. The  
lights flickered off  
so that all she could see were the patterns of the runes and the Phane,  
whose darkness was so total that it stood out from the blackness like a  
hole leading down into further blackness. Then the runes started moving,  
flowing upwards, strings of blue runes twisting around strings of red in  
an arcane double helix to be devoured by the Phane who perched on the  
rafters of the ceiling. The creature was glowing with a nimbus of pale  
blue energy. So was she. Clumps of the blue light were detaching  
themselves from her and floating slowly upwards. The forms made by the  
light were ever shifting. They reminded her of things - of scenes, of  
places, of people, some that she recognised, some that she couldn't  
possibly have known about, dancing and flickering like sillhouettes in  
a shadow play. She suddenly felt very lost and alone in this world of  
things she didn't know about. She hummed 'Beast of Prey' to reassure  
herself.

Suddenly, hands grabbed her and pulled her out of the circle. There was  
a loud shattering noise, followed by a scream that rended apart the air.  
The blue shapes were flung in every direction, the strings of runes  
broken like threads on a loom. Despite her kicking and struggling, she  
could not break Lezard's grasp as he hoisted her over his shoulder and  
carried her out of the room and down the corridor, ignoring the yells  
of the scientist and the roaring of the Phane. Reaching the numbered  
lever room, he set the levers to 12 and pulled them. The Phane's claws  
sliced a chunk out of the machine seconds after they were teleported  
safely to room 12.

Lezard lowered her to the floor and dropped to his knees, gasping.  
This room wasn't like the others. It looked... unfinished. The floor was  
a wireframe of red and blue and looked like a fishtank in which metal  
cubes the size of a person swam in all directions.

"We're safe here." said Lezard, "The Phane won't go in Room 12. Existing  
here is a strain on its resources. This room exists only in the A  
Ending."

"What have you done?" gasped Gwesty.

"I've saved your life." he replied.

"But... but the rabbit said..."

"That he would save you from Freya? That he would take away your bad  
performance rating?" Lezard's face was grim, "Only by letting that thing  
eat your future!"

"What about you? Won't you be punished?"

"I've been meaning to rebel against the old man anyway." Lezard  
shrugged, "I've just been waiting for the opportune moment. You see, I  
can't let that thing be fully charged up."

"The Phane? What is it anyway?"

"It's made of C endings." said Lezard, "And it eats C endings. But if  
you make a machine... you can also extract the C endings again. And you  
can use them as weapons... direct them at people! Imagine if you were in  
battle, and someone shot you, and the next thing you know, all your  
actions suddenly have the worst possible consequences."

"What, like being shot?" said Gwesty, "You know, it would make  
everything a lot easier if people didn't go to war at all. Honestly...  
getting a monster to eat me..."

Lezard frowned and peered at her.  
"Your performance rating's gone down to twenty. It wouldn't have worked  
anyway. I've never seen one like you before. Even Hrist had a few  
problems, but..."

"Cut it out!" she snapped, slapping him across the face, "I'm NOT a  
Valkyrie and I'm NOT faulty!"

"Whatever the case, you need to leave here." he said, "We can't stay  
forever. There's no food or water. But if we use the machine - provided  
it still works - the Phane will be waiting for us on the other end, and  
it'll be angry."

"I know a way out that might work." she said, "But you'll have to be  
quiet and not disturb me."

Motoi and Lionel Deguares stared down at the soundsystem. It still  
wasn't responding to their commands. It was now stuck in a loop playing  
'Heads Magic, Tails Curse.' Outside, the attackers had retreated. Orvue  
was sent immediately back to work and Lionel was placed under a heavy  
guard. He could barely communicate with the outside world at all and so  
there was a limit to what he could do. Currently, he was helping Motoi  
with his faulty equipment. Or at least, trying to. He had no idea what  
was wrong. They had tried every conventional method of fixing the machine - run every software  
test, anti-hacking program and virus sweep, reset the machine to  
factory settings, even dismantled it. Nothing was wrong with the  
hardware or software. They had asked the people in Archives to find out  
as much information as they could about the music that invaded the  
soundsystem. Maybe the music itself held a clue to what had happened.

"You know, there was a man protecting me back there." said Deguares,  
"Some guy in the audience."

"You have devoted fans!"

Deguares shrugged.  
"He looked like he meant business. A bounty hunter or something. Too  
much cyberware for his own good."

"I wish Chisato was still here." said Motoi, "She would have found them  
and killed them all by now. Commander Revorse, too. But they went on a  
mission to Styx."

"A Mission to the Deep Space." muttered Deguares, "I sang it at the  
concert again. Hey, isn't it one of the tracks your system keeps  
playing?"

"Its favourite one." said Motoi, pouring himself a coffee, "I'm sick of  
hearing it, to be honest. Chisato used to hum it all the time as well.  
They have it on Expel, you know."

"I've heard it somewhere else as well." said Lionel.

"Its everywhere."

"Somewhere important." said Lionel, "I know! Its the tune that ultra  
hard dungeon from the Eternal Sphere game! The girls were complaining  
about it the other day."

"And the Eternal Sphere are attacking us!" Motoi snapped his fingers,  
"It's got to be related!"

"But I've never heard any of the other songs in the game." said Lionel.

"I've never heard them anywhere!" said Motoi, turning back to his  
unresponsive machine. Lionel stole his coffee and the track changed to  
'The Counterfeit Self'. "If those bastards have hacked us... Tria, some of these files are intergalactic government property! They're committing an intergalactic level offense!"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. It was one of the staff from  
the Archives, an old, white-haired Nedian. He held a black leather  
suitcase.

"Midgard 3." he said, smiling.

"Pardon?"

"The planet where those sound samples came from." he explained, "Its  
quite near the Central Hub - our capital used to be called Midgard 2 -  
and now has no intelligent life. We've managed to dig out some data on  
it but there isn't much. Apparently, it isn't very newsworthy.  
Uninhabited planets rarely are. There's nothing there except swampland."

"There used to be a civilisation here, however." he said, "The  
Midgardians were very primitive and their history was rife with war.  
However, they were famous for three things - powerful heraldic mages,  
worshipping the inhabitants of Midgard 2 - the descendants of modern Valkyries - and their operas. Their operas were some of the most famous in the galaxy."

Motoi shrugged. He preferred popular music.

"All the songs your soundsystem keeps playing are from one of their  
major operas, the story of a Valkyrie from Midgard 2. They concern many  
different topics - love, war, magic, insanity, dragons, wolves..."

"I saw a dragon once." contributed Deguares, sounding rather sad.

"Why would my soundsystem be obsessed with boring songs from a dead  
civilisation?" asked Motoi.

"I have no idea." admitted the man, "But I did find out one rather odd  
piece of information. The Midgardians had never heard of 'Mission to the  
Deep Space. That song shouldn't be in there."

"Do you think it means anything?" asked Motoi.

"If the suspicions of the Archive staff are correct... that song is an  
Out-Of-Place Object."

"Who would put a song on an uninhabited planet?" asked Motoi, "You can't  
even break the UP3 if there's nobody there to see it!"

"Maybe the Eternal Sphere did that, too." said Lionel.

"We can't jump to conclusions!" said the archivist, "Ideally, we need to  
go down there and see for ourselves! I'm going to ask the Director for  
permission to send a search party to Midgard 3. There's probably a story  
there just waiting for us to tell!"

"I think the Director has more important things to worry about right  
now."

They both looked up. Orvue was walking down the stairs, a cup of coffee  
in his hands and a slightly shocked expression on his face.

"My contact within the Eternal Sphere corporation - a bribeable GM -  
just gave me some news." he said, "The President's been assassinated.  
Luther's dead."  
--


	7. Chapter 7

Plunging through the long wet grass, Chisato Madison could barely see the shafts of emerald light through the thick canopy of rolling clouds. The sunset was  
beautiful on this planet, whatever it was called. She had already taken 45 pictures of it and she hadn't long arrived here. It was one of the more pleasant worlds  
they had been to since she and Commander Revorse, whom she paid to protect her from harm, had first ventured through the Gate of Styx. Every time they walked in,  
they came out somewhere else. It was an amazing device. However, she still hadn't achieved what she wanted most of all - to meet a native Styxian in their own  
habitat. She wanted to interview them, to write an article about their culture, their way of life. Was there a planet that Styxians called home or did they wander  
through the Gate across many different worlds like intergalactic nomads? Maybe they were all exiles...

Absorbed in her train of thought, she did not spot the enormous green snake that leapt out of the grass at her face, sharp fangs lunging for her throat, until  
Commander Revorse fired her laser rifle at it. It screamed, jumped back and dropped to the floor, thrashing around. Commander Revorse fired again. This time it  
lay still in a coiled heap, its mottled green skin charred and blackened.

"Careful." she said, "Those things could be everywhere."

"Is it poisonous?" asked Chisato.

"Damned if I know. I don't wanna have to find out!" the lithe Fargettian yawned and stretched.

They continued onwards, more slowly this time. Commander Revorse led the way, beating the grass with her rifle. Occasionally she disturbed a snake and shot it.  
Then, after an hour's trek across the grassland, they found something else. A brick.

"Looks like we've found an inhabited planet!" said Chisato excitedly. She checked her recording equipment was working.

Following the trail of bricks, they eventually came to the edge of the grassland. It receded into a valley that looked like a giant barrow. Tiles had been built  
into the walls to reinforce them and there was a large stone building at the bottom. It looked like a temple, a terraced design with an archway, statues and  
decorations that Chisato recognised as the three interlocking triangles of the holy symbol of the goddess Tria. Beside the building was a small graveyard.  
Carefully, Chisato slid down the bank.

She heard voices.

Reaching the bottom of the bank, she dashed to the wall and hid behind it. She listened carefully to the voices. One was low-pitched and coarse, one was louder  
and slightly crazed. It was definitely a very long and beliggerent argument, the sort that went on forever. After a while, she realised that the two were speaking  
Nedian. Survivors! Real Nedians! She hadn't seen Noel for ten years now, and even the Nedians from the Chronicle were getting old, dying off. There were only four  
births among the Nedian staff. They desperately needed to find more.

Then they came closer and she heard their voices clearly, their heavy L'Aquan accents. She saw a glimpse of their clothing, black one-piece suits with flaming red  
and yellow patterns like some low-budget game show hosts. She retreated carefully back around the building and bolted up the face of the canyon. Once she was  
halfway up, she dove into the soil and crawled the rest of the way back to where Commander Revorse sat, already aiming her rifle.

"What's up?" she asked, "We under attack?"

Chisato shook her head frantically.  
"Do not engage! They are more powerful than us!"

"Should we retreat?"

"I don't know." Chisato said, "I don't know what to do, because this doesn't make sense. Those two should not still be alive. I saw them die."

"What are you talking about?"

"Its Decus and Vesper." she pointed to the two tall, muscular men who wandered up and down the graveyard, arguing at the tops of their voices and occasionally  
mock wrestling.

Gwesty hummed the song as she walked down the familiar corridors. Lezard Valeth hadn't followed her. This saddened her. She wasn't sure if her powers could  
transport more than one person. She hoped that he would be okay.

"I'll come back for you." she promised him, "Don't you worry. I won't be too long. Don't be dead when I get back or I'll be very angry!"

She pushed open the first door. The strange men in suits who looked like older versions of Motoi - she remembered that they were called Programmers - ignored her  
when she waved at them. They were always there and always too busy to talk to her. She walked out, shut the door behind her and opened the next door. Someone had  
left the trap door open! Honestly, she thought, how irresponsible! Even she wasn't allowed down there, and someone had walked in and not even closed the door to  
stop the monsters getting out! The trapdoor was heavy and she struggled to push it back down and fasten the chains back. Then she walked out and continued along  
the corridor to the next room...

The sound of footsteps made her turn around.

"Who's there?" she demanded. People usually weren't allowed in here at all. It was for prophets of Tria.

"I think you know who I am."

It was a woman's voice, hard and cold. A tall, slim female figure came into view. She had long blonde hair that flowed of its own accord and wore a green tunic  
and matching hat. Gwesty didn't like the way the woman looked at her. She looked like a headteacher addressing a naughty child.

"Did you really think you could hide from me here?" the woman laughed, "I was the guardian of the last floor for a while! I still have the key!"

To prove her point, she unhooked an ornate silver key from her belt and showed it to Gwesty before returning it to the chain and placing her hands on her hips.

"Right now, your performance rating is..." she looked at her wrist. There was a machine like a watch that beeped and flashed red, "Ah... fifteen! Its gone down  
again! You're seriously malfunctioning, Valkyrie."

"I'm not a Valkyrie." she said, clenching her fists.

"You're quite right. You're not a Valkyrie." said the woman, "You're really not. You're the worst Valkyrie I've ever met. You make Silmeria look good. What am I  
going to do with you, Gwesty?"

"You're Freya, aren't you?" said Gwesty, pointing at her, "The rabbit was right! You're here to kill me!"

"Rabbit?" Freya gave her an odd look, then shrugged, "Don't think of it as death, child. I will simply return you to eternal sleep while I repair your  
personality. You could probably do with a memory seal, too, I think you've been involved with things a Valkyrie shouldn't know about."

"I think you have other things to worry about, Freya."

They both turned to look at the newcomer. Even Freya obviously hadn't spotted him walking up to her. Looking across at the battle goddess was a man in cybernetic  
armour covered in blue flashing lights. His face and body language were as unreadable as Marietta's.

"Who are you?" hissed Freya, her voice as dangerous as a cat's growl.

The man said nothing. With one hand, he reached over his shoulder and took an object off his back. It was a black spear, dripping with blood.  
--


	8. Chapter 8

"Are you sure its really them?" asked Commander Revorse.

"Use the power meter on them!" urged Chisato.

The Commander took a device that looked like a small Geiger counter and pointed it at the two figures. It began beeping rapidly and the number on the display  
skyrocketed. After a few minutes, the reading already off the scale, the machine started smoking and then made a 'bang' noise.

"What was that sound?" demanded Decus, glaring at Vesper suspiciously.

"Why, it sounded like an EXPLOSION!" exclaimed Vesper happily with an insane little chuckle.

"Have you been setting things on fire again?"

"You say 'fire' like its a bad thing!" complained Vesper, his soft cackling sounding a little like the flames that fascinated him so. Decus swore under his  
breath. He continued pacing around the gravestones, while Vesper had stopped and was staring at an outcrop of dry leaves pointedly.

"Where is Shigeo? He said he would return soon..." he complained to himself.

"... purifying flames, the burning passion of the spirit... " Vesper giggled, ignoring his brother, "Oh, Tria..."

"Shut up!" hissed Decus, putting a finger to his lips. Chisato could hear the noise too: a teleportation device humming as it activated. Rings of blue light  
rippled in the air and a figure slowly materialised in the middle of them. It was another man, as tall as Decus and Vesper, dressed in bulky armour covered with  
blue lights. As Chisato stared at him, she realised that he was almost entirely mechanical. He was also in extreme disrepair, his armour cracked, wires trailing  
and sparking. He dropped to his knees.

"SHIGEO!" yelled Decus, running to embrace the man, who darted backwards almost imperceptibly fast, despite his injuries, "What happened here?"

"Its not a problem. I ran into something I can't fight. That's all." he responded, "I'll repair myself."

"Did you find any information?"

"The man didn't confess, so I killed him." said Shigeo - Chisato recognised him now, "His documents confirmed that Jibril was there, but didn't say anything  
about where he went afterwards."

"At least we know something!"

"I found out something else that you might be interested in." Shigeo told him, putting his briefcase flat against a tombstone and opening it. He took out some  
documents and handed them to Decus, who examined them, his eyes growing wide.

"And this is definitely genuine?"

Shigeo nodded. Hearing a sudden burst of laughter from Vesper, he turned around and saw that the leaves were now on fire.

"Can't you restrain yourself for five minutes?" snapped Decus.

"Shut up! Nobody tells me what to do except Indalecio!"

"Indalecio isn't here, you fool!"

"He is!" cried Vesper, "He'll come back! I know it!"

"He won't!"

"He will!"

"Won't!"

"Actually, there's nothing to say that he won't." said Shigeo, "After all, if these documents are correct, then Cyril..."

Suddenly, he stopped and turned around, his servo-motors whirring and his sensors beeping.

"Someone's watching us."

Like a clock that had struck twelve, the Tower fell silent again. It had, for a few brief seconds, been awash with a maelstrom of viral signals, daemonic  
information, illuminated by shoals of red and blue light that swam across the walls, floor and ceiling, a cacophony of clicks and beeps. Now it had returned to  
its usual low hum and tick-tock noise. And it was dark. Dark and cold. The ceremony had used up all the power.

As he stood in the corridor of Room 1, Lezard Valeth mused that he was surprised he was still alive. Why had the Phane withdrawn? He had stolen from it the only  
substance that nourished it. He knew the creature's wrath, what it was capable of when it was truly furious. It was relentless. It couldn't be controlled. Not  
really. It obeyed Arianrod because there was food and a life of comfort when it did. While the warding seals caused it pain, they didn't really contain it. It was  
under no real compulsion.

Arianrod must have placated it somehow. But why? Lezard was under no illusions that his master was capable of mercy or forgiveness. No, there was a reason, a  
practical reason. Fear chilled the apprentice's heart as he trod the next chamber. He could feel the temperature dropping, fiendish eyes watching him. Right now,  
the four links from this chamber to Arianrod's office in Room 20 seemed to last an eternity.

The little rabbit didn't look up from the arcane tome he pored over with his XINE-feather quill. As his apprentice nervously pushed open the door, he turned the  
page, licked his lips and underlined a particularly interesting passage.

"Come in." he prompted impatiently. Arianrod looked at his feet.

"How's the Phane?" he asked.

"Depleted."

Lezard attempted to hide a thin smile that played over his lips.

"Oh, do stop this hideous obsequoience. I'm not going to kill you."

"Why?" asked Lezard, "Why did you call the Phane off?"

"Not for your benefit." said Arianrod, tapping his fingers, "For one thing, it would have drained the poor thing's strength even more to kill you. Secondly, if  
you had died at the hands of the Phane, you would be thrown into the C Ending. I find your natural fate more amusing."

"Wh... what do you mean?"

Arianrod's smile was one of evil indulgence, his dark eyes drinking in Lezard's fear and pain.  
"You are aware of your reincarnations, are you not?"

Lezard nodded. It was a side-effect of his studies into advanced magic, especially fate magic, that he knew about all of his past lives. He hadn't been aware that  
Arianrod had been prying into his previous incarnations.

"Its no coincedence that you've died still an apprentice or a student every single time."

Lezard arched an eyebrow. It wasn't something he wanted to talk about.

"Yes, Lezard Valeth, every time. No matter how many lives you live, you will never achieve mastery of anything that you put your hand to." he looked into Lezard's  
eyes, "Vestigial Ending Syndrome. Its a very rare mutation of the C Ending. I found out when I was scanning you to see which ending you were headed for. Its very  
interesting. I'd like to see how it develops through your incarnations. For instance, do you remember everything you've learned? Far too fascinating to  
interrupt the process."

"That's why I keep you alive, Lezard. Certainly not because you're an even half decent apprentice." he looked into Lezard's eyes, "Although maybe one day you will  
learn enough to be able to annihilate yourself from existence. Let that be your punishment - to live out your fruitless life again and again in an eternity of  
torment. Now don't go near my Phane again."

Lezard nodded wordlessly and ran out of the room. He didn't stop until he was as far away from Arianrod's office as he possibly could be with the possible  
intersections of the rooms. Those rooms... when he first entered Arianrod's service, he loved those rooms best out of everything in the Tower, with all its  
wonders of modern magic and technology. Now they just seemed like a trap. He was the mouse, they were the maze and he couldn't even figure out what the cheese  
was, or even if it existed. He was just one more of Arianrod's experiments. He curled up into a ball and stared at the ceiling. Already, his mind was working to  
find some project, some distraction from the creeping despair. It didn't take long.

The Phane. He had drained its energy, halted it. It wasn't enough. He had to think of a way to destroy it. But how? He thought through everything he had been  
taught so far, flicking through the pages of the notebook he took everywhere with him. He had never been taught anything about how to stop a Phane. He knew a  
couple of things that put a spanner in their works, but nothing to destroy one.

Unless...

He wandered back up to the levers.  
--


	9. Chapter 9

Motoi's fury had not abated.

He did what he always did when he was angry. He locked himself in his sound proof room, turned the volume up to full and danced around wildly, screaming until he  
felt better. Usually he would play 'Integral Body, Imperfect Soul' but whatever he tried to play turned into 'The True Nature of All' anyway. For some reason, it  
wasn't making him feel better today. It was only winding him up more. Images were flooding into his mind. He was furious at the Director for not authorising his  
search. Just because the Director had died; he was an unethical bastard anyway! And as for Motoi possibly being in danger... from what? His name began with an  
M, and Lionel Deguares wasn't even dead yet! He thought of disobeying the Director, of stealing a ship and venturing out into space to rescue Gwesty like some Eternal Sphere game hero. He imagined himself sweeping Gwesty into his arms and kissing her. It was  
crazy... she was like a sister to him.

But she isn't your sister, the voice in his head said, you aren't even from the same planet, never mind related. You're not children any more, either. You're an  
attractive young man and she's a woman your age, even though she doesn't quite look it. You don't have to do what anyone says, either. You don't have to be  
imprisoned on a space station for the rest of your life by that... machine-woman. Is that really the life you want for yourself and Gwesty? Is that why you  
survived?

You have power, Motoi. Dangerous power. You can use it...

The music faded to loop just as Motoi heard a knock on the door.

"Go away!" he yelled.

"Hey, its me, Lionel."

Motoi grudgingly punched the access switch to let the musician in. He still had his guitar strapped over his shoulder.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"I was just checking you were okay."

"I..." he hung his head, "I'm not sure. I'm really not sure any more. My head doesn't feel right... and I'm worried about Gwesty."

"I've been thinking about my homeland." said Lionel, staring whistfully at the ceiling, "I miss her, too."

"Elicoor?"

"Airglyph." he sighed, "It's a beautiful country. Its mountains are covered in snow. At certain times of the year, you can watch dragons flying over the  
mountains. If there wasn't so much war... Airyglyphian people love wars. I've always wondered if I'm not a real Airyglyphian."

"I don't even remember my home planet." muttered Motoi, "I don't know anything about the Eternal Sphere except how to make money in the game."

"Naj retier." said Lionel.

"Pardon?"

"The Airyglyphian motto. It means 'no surrender'."

"No surrender." repeated Motoi.

"Its why I've never done well in Airyglyph." he explained, "I'm... I'm always surrendering. I'm a paradidomanic. A compulsive surrenderer."

"No surrender!" the boy clenched his fist, "NO SURRENDER!"

"Are we going to be on TV?" asked Vesper, grabbing Decus in a headlock so he couldn't steal the microphone. They hadn't killed Chisato - she didn't understand  
why - and now she was interviewing them.

"So I'm here on... on an unknown planet beyond the Gate of Styx..."

"Triune. The planet's called Triune." supplied Decus, biting Vesper.

"I'm here on planet Triune, with three of the original Ten Wise Men!" said the reporter, beaming, "I'll hand you over to Vesper. Vesper, how do you feel about..."

"Decus knows a dance!" yelled Vesper, "Dance, Decus, dance! I'll do the singing!"

Decus swore at him. Only Shigeo was silent, keeping one eye on Commander Revorse, who stared back at him through the scope of a laser rifle.

"This is an unprecedented trag... I mean, event in the history of Nede!" declared Chisato, "Would you like to tell us how you survived the destruction of the  
planet?"

"Fire! This show needs more fire!" Vesper clapped his hands, "Decus, fetch me something to set fire to! We can juggle it! And dance around it!"

"Vesper, give me the fucking microphone!" Decus growled, "Don't you DARE set more fires!"

"Would you say your defeat on Nede changed your world view at all?"

"Decus says he'll do a strip act!" said Vesper, earning him a punch in the face. Dropping the microphone, he grappled Decus and wrestled him to the ground. Shigeo  
sighed. He jumped, landing on a tombstone, then teleported directly behind Chisato, picking up the microphone.

"We don't know what you mean." he said, "We are Shigeo, Decus and Vesper of the Ten Wise Men. We were created on a planet called Nede. But we've never been in  
this battle you told me about. We don't know anything about Nede being destroyed."

"You deny everything?" gasped Chisato, a look of outrage on her face.

"The only battle we've been in..." said Shigeo, "Is the battle to recover all ten of us again. We've lost Indalecio. Worse, we've lost Jibril, and he hasn't got  
his power limiter any more. He can't take his own power limiter off. Nobody can take it off. Something bad's happened to him, so if you ever find out any  
information..."

"Jibril has a power limiter? Like Indalecio?"

"Jibril's i a lot harder to remove and a lot more powerful." said Shigeo, his eyes flashing, "Without it, Jibril is more powerful than Indalecio and harder to  
control than Vesper. You wouldn't understand. You don't know Jibril."

"I don't think any of you are the Ten Wise Men I know." said Chisato, "What do you mean, you lost Jibril? How do you LOSE a Wise Man?"

"We were deactivated. Our personalities taken back out." he explained, "Something went wrong in the production phase and... we stopped following orders. Some of  
us began pursuing our own interests, some of us - well, Vesper - went mad. And Cyril... we don't talk about Cyril. But our personalities weren't contained well  
enough. They're viral. They got onto the Internet. I don't know how many of us escaped or where they are now. We three found our hosts again. We believe Jibril  
found his, and Cyril is somewhere out there..."

"This is insane." said Chisato, "This... everything you're telling me... its all insane. It goes against history I myself I have witnessed. The Ten Wise Men  
were at a battle. Nede was destroyed."

"Well, we're AI. Maybe they made copies of us." Shigeo sounded deeply uncomfortable at this proposition. Chisato wasn't sure she wanted to dwell on it either.

"Tell me a bit more about yourselves." prompted the reporter.

"Decus and Vesper are brothers." said Shigeo, "Their personalities are based around Klausian stereotypes. I'm Eternal Sphere. We were created differently so that  
we could act as a military unit, dealing with any eventuality."

"You're an army?"

"We're more like the weapons." he said, "Some of us are newer than others, more advanced. Some of us work better, and some of us are very, very faulty."

"You said that Cyril..."

"We don't talk about Cyril." he said, "If Cyril awakens, we'll deal with it. Right now we have to find Jibril."

"Do you have any idea where Jibril is?" asked Chisato.

"All we know is that he went for a job interview at the Eternal Sphere corporation and didn't come out."

"A... job interview?"

"Yes. Do you know anything about it?"

"I... think I might be able to help you." said Chisato, "I don't know where he is now. But I think with the right bait, he might come to us. And I know the  
perfect bait."  
--


	10. Chapter 10

Motoi was surprised at how smoothly it went.

He had packed only the bare essentials: food, water, medical supplies, a laser pistol and an MP3 player he had filled with his favourite tracks. He waited until  
the early hours of the morning, when activity was quiet and the night shift was almost over, so the guards were sleepy. From his soundsystem, he hacked the  
spaceship bay doors so they would open for him, then he turned the volume up slightly to hide the sound of his footsteps, so that it would be easier to stealth.  
Then he left the room and sneaked to the bay.

There were two guards at the door. He hoped he would not have to confront anyone but he kept one hand on his laser pistol anyway. Fortunately, one guard wandered  
off to refill the coffee machine and the other was half asleep. Not realising that he wasn't authorised, the guard waved him through and the doors opened for him.

There was one scout ship left in the bay. The others had been taken out to investigate the President's death. He pushed a button on the ship door and it opened.  
It was a small ship with only one floor, a bridge, living quarters for two people and some telecommunications equipment. At his command, the bridge door opened  
and he flew the ship out of the bay. It made a sudden lurching movement that caused him to fall off his chair and suddenly realise that he wasn't actually sure  
how to pilot a spaceship beyond a quick read of the manual and a few flight simulations he played. He shrugged and plugged his MP3 player into the ship's  
computer. In the stories, playing 'Tria Concerto' always helped the heroes perform better in tight spots, be it forging a sword, making a magic potion or,  
presumably, flying a spaceship. Inspired by the famous classical piece, he managed to leave the Chronicle's artificial orbit and was thrust into the cold darkness  
of space.

He activated the automap. Midgard 3 was only just big enough to be listed on the map at all. It was close to Central Hub, which was a pulsing white beacon on the  
map. He programmed the computer to aim for it. Apart from the asteroid field around the Chronicle, he could mostly let the autopilot steer the ship for him.

He passed the time by listening to music. This particular MP3 player wasn't affected by the bug or virus or whatever it was. It was probably so old that it as  
incompatible. Its hard disk space was measured in gigabytes, for Tria's sake! He had no idea how long it had been in his possession. He imagined his father had  
given it to him, and he in turn had been given it by his own parents, and so on. An MP3 player... what a weird family heirloom. The sound quality was still fairly  
good...

Until two hours into the flight, when it spontaneously started playing 'Powerbroker' and then stopped, making a noise like magnetic tape rewinding and then  
snapping. He reached to pull it out. As his hand closed around it, an alarm flashed red and all the ship's sound systems failed at once. He was instantaneously  
plunged into darkness. Cold, dark, drifting in oblivion... he felt his sanity about to snap like the magnetic tape. Then words appeared in front of him on the  
main screen. They were upside down. He couldn't tell if this was the screen's fault or his for not being the right way up. The words flashed red. His breath froze  
red on the screen as he bent over to read them.

C Y R I L...

"So, what exactly were you doing in an old church?" asked Chisato.

"That's not just any church!" explained Vesper, "Its the oldest Church of Tria in the galaxy! Tria tells me to burn things!"

"Vesper, what did I tell you? No fire!" warned Decus. Commander Revorse's instructions had been very clear. If one fire broke out on the ship, even a small fire,  
even it couldn't be directly linked to Vesper, they would all be locked in the brig, including Chisato. As it turned out, Chisato didn't give any of them time to  
start fires. She did nothing but talk and type, assaulting the Wise Men with an endless barrage of questions, never seeming to pause for breath. A hyperactive  
Chisato was a force of nature. Commander Revorse had locked herself in the bridge with a nice relaxing song - 'An Ideal' - to get some peace and quiet and  
concentrate on flying the ship. Shigeo sat in the corner of the room, fine-tuning his cybernetics with a tiny screwdriver, spanner and welding torch.

"No, let him continue, this is fascinating! The Ten Wise Men are religious?"

"Only Vesper." said Decus, "He's been passionately devout in his worship of Tria ever since he received a vision as a boy. He insisted on coming to the old  
temple to pray for Jibril's soul."

"Do we even have souls?" asked Shigeo, yawning, "If I've got a soul, so does a toaster."

"You're not all machine yet, Shigeo!" Decus laughed.

"Can you describe your vision to me?" asked Chisato, "I need to know everything I possibly can about your situation. If our history books are wrong, its  
imperative that I'm accurate in updating them a second time."

"Well, you see, I was just playing with matches like I always do, when Tria told me about these heretics next door, and how I have to burn them, you see..."  
Chisato typed frantically, nodding at the wild-eyed man to continue.

"He's awake!" yelled Shigeo.

"Pardon, who's awake?" asked Chisato.

"I have to leave." he replied, before pressing a button on his wrist and disappearing from the room. Chisato yelled and ran out into the corridor. There was no  
sign of him on the map - although he barely registered as a life sign anyway. Then an unauthorised teleport alarm sounded and Commander Revorse swore over the  
intercom.

"Its no use." said Decus, "He's obsessed with teleportation. His teleportation equipment is the most advanced in the galaxy."

"Then what are we going to do?"

"We wait." said Decus, "He probably just has something to do. He always comes back.  
--


	11. Chapter 11

Lionel Deguares yawned and rolled over. He almost fell off the bed. Grabbing his clothes and pulling them on, he punched the switch to open the door. A man  
walked in. It was the aging Nedian from the archives.

"Can't it wait? Its 3am."

"What I have to say is urgent." said the old man, "I've found a few things out that may be the key to the mystery of the faulty soundsystem. And if it is... this  
is serious."

"Have you told Motoi?"

"We can't find Motoi." said the old man.

"What? How can he... this is an emergency!"

"The Director is looking into it." he said, "Right now, you have to deal with this. You're the only other person who understands music, so we're relying on you.  
Come, we should discuss this in my office."

Yawning again, Deguares followed him disspiritedly down the corridor, into the elevator and down another corridor until they reached the Archive Room. It was a  
huge room down a long flight of steps. It was filled with huge shelves packed tightly from top to bottom with books, documents, videotapes, holotapes, CDs and  
floppy disks. There was also a computer terminal to a database that held ten times as much information on the shelves. It would be a paradise for hackers and  
spies. Orvue sat at the terminal, frowning.

"There is one other place where the song 'Mission to the Deep Space' is played." said the old man, closing the door, "Its a very obscure use. It was the anthem of  
the Seraphic Gate."

"Who?"

"I'm not surprised you've never heard of them. They're a secret religious organisation. A cult." said the old man, "They claimed to be Trian fundamentalists, but  
their real plans were even more sinister than that."

"Fifty years ago, they were an intergalactic power. They had contacts everywhere. The Nedian Government, the Eternal Sphere Corporation... even the Court of  
Tria." he continued, "Gabrie Celeste and the Iselia Queen were found to be Seraphic Gate spies. They eventually defected and gave away vital information that led  
to the discovery of several major lodges and the arrest of the cult's leaders. The Seraphic Gate was effectively wiped out due to their actions. That was why  
they were allowed back into power."

"They've been linked to several major events." continued the old man, nodding at Orvue's shocked expression, "The rise to power of Jie Revorse, the creation of  
the Ten Wise Men, the placement of out-of-place objects... we don't know how much of this is true and how much the warped imagination of conspiracy theory buffs,  
but we know one thing. The Seraphic Gate were thoroughly evil. They committed atrocities."

"What does this have to do with Motoi's soundsystem?" asked Orvue, "They're gone, aren't they? Wiped out! And the songs are from an uninhabited planet!"

"The Seraphic Gate's main lodge was on Midgard 3." said the old man, "It was huge - built using the locals as slave labour. It has even been theorised that the  
entire development of civilisation on Midgard 3 - its stagnation, all the wars, their obsession with the Valkyries on Midgard 2 - was all down to the Seraphic  
Gate's brainwashing. They warped an entire planet to fit their needs. If anything was left over from the Serpahic Gate, if they were ever to rise again... it  
would be on Midgard 3."

"You think such a thing will happen again?"

The old man's brow furrowed.

"Recently, I received... intelligence from a contact. There is reason to believe that a weapon is being developed. A weapon designed to contest the power of the  
galactic defense systems."

"What kind of weapon could possibly do such a thing?" asked Orvue.

"They are creating an artificial, controllable C Ending."

"A what?" asked Deguares, feeling foolish. The other two were talking about intergalactic matters with some authority while he was an exile from some  
underdeveloped planet where they didn't even have television. He felt like a schoolkid visiting a University.

"I have only just heard of such a thing myself, but my contact assures me that it exists." he said, "It has to do with Valkyries. How they are built and trained.  
A Valkyrie who consistently fails in her tasks... whose decisions would be disastrous for the entire galaxy if they continue to be put into effect... enters a  
state known as a 'C Ending '. This is like an artificial causal chain that makes it impossible for the Valkyrie not to be caught and deactivated."

"Wait... are you talking about parallel worlds? About changing reality?" Orvue gasped.

"The C Ending only affects the Valkyrie and her Einherjar." he said, "However, the weapons the Seraphic Gate are developing... who knows what they are designed to  
affect? Maybe they are powerful enough to trap the entire galaxy in a C Ending! Every single person, doomed to the worst fate imaginable!"

"How... how can such a thing even be possible? Its insane! The technology required..."

"... Is only a natural extension of the technology already used to create Valkyries." said the old man, "If my intelligence is correct, this has been happening  
for a long time. Two hundred years ago, low performance Valkyries were a real problem. Every one in ten Valkyrie had to be deactivated. Then there just weren't  
any. It simply stopped happening. The scientists thought that the manufacture process was completed. But then it was discovered that they still existed after  
all, but were disappearing off the production line."

"Someone stole faulty Valkyries?"

"It is now believed that the Seraphic Gate are using them to power the machine. Such a machine would have to be kept in a perfect state of Ending C."

"Wait a minute..." said Deguares, "Isn't Gwesty a Valkyrie?"

"That's correct." said the old man, "And yes, if this theory is correct, she has been taken too."

"Hang on, how do we know any of this is true? Even if this contact is reliable... this is the most ridiculous theory I've ever heard of!" yelled Orvue. Deguares  
was shocked. It was so out of character for the calm, sophisticated Tetrageniont, "Nobody knows how Valkyries are trained, and you're saying they're mass produced  
in a factory using this... reality-altering technology? If this sort of thing existed, it would have already destroyed the world through a paradox accident! Even if that hasn't happened now, it would certainly happen if such a weapon were  
used! Why would anyone, even the most insane cultists, want to fire it?"

"I..." the old man frowned, "Look, I don't know every detail. The contact isn't here, and I was only told what I've just relayed to you. Its just a warning, okay?  
We need to go to Midgard 3! I don't know why the Director is being so awkward about letting people leave the station... why she's making up these pathetic  
excuses..."

Nobody's right in the head any more, agreed Deguares silently, not you, not the Director, not Orvue, not even me. Tria, the only reason I got out of bed tonight  
is because of that damn paradidomania telling me to give up.

"But we might have to disobey her orders for once!"

Suddenly, a communications window appeared. It was Marietta. The old man blushed like a naughty schoolboy, but the android didn't notice.

"Everyone to the bay." she said.

"Why? What's happened?" asked Orvue.

"Two things: one, someone stole one of my ships and I want them dead. Now. Two... Chisato's back!"  
--


	12. Chapter 12

The ship's systems had returned to life now and Motoi was making a steady pace towards Midgar 3. Unblinking, he watched the huge white sphere of Midgard 2 - the  
Central Galactic Hub - appear on the screen. He vaguely remembered the first time they had been there, escorted by Gabrie Celeste to the central government  
building and the Court of Trai. That was when he first met Gwesty. His head hurt when he thought about her. The red wall flashed in front of his eyes again like a  
sheet of pain. CYRIL... He could see the nerves behind his eyes, hear his own pulse. He wasn't used to the loneliness. Even when he was in the escape pod, he had  
been with Gwesty. He had shut down the communications channel to stop the Chronicle from hailing him every five seconds. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go back to  
the Chronicle, even if he did find Gwesty. He didn't think it was as safe there as they claimed. All they did was prod their nose into places it didn't belong,  
chase after the most dangerous stories, make new and ever more powerful enemies. He curled up into a ball again. He was cold and hungry. Not all of the life  
support systems had come back on yet. He wasn't sure he would make it to Midgard 3 at this rate...

An alarm sounded. A sign flashed up on the screen. 'Warning: unauthorised teleport.' Teleport? From where? He saw no other ship even remotely in range, and  
besides, his anti-teleport field was at full strength. Was it a reporter from the Chronicle? He grabbed his gun and left the Captain's chair. The intruder wasn't  
appearing on the life sensors. He could be anywhere on the ship... not that it was very big...

A blade appeared at his throat.

"Hello, Cyril." whispered a mechanical voice. Cyril. That name again...

"Who's Cyril?" he asked.

"I see you haven't awakened fully yet." replied the voice, "Well, of course you haven't. If you were at full strength, I'd be dead. Let me refresh your memory.  
It's me, Cyril. Shigeo."

Motoi heard the hum of a personal teleporter and suddenly the man was in front of him. He could only see his vague outline - the lights weren't working - but he  
could tell by his chunky shape and the number of blue lights that he was seriously cybered up.

"Never heard of you." said Motoi, "Get off my ship."

"I don't think so." replied Shigeo, "You're going to be very dangerous when you awaken. Its my duty as a Wise Man to keep you on a tight leash."

"I'm on an important mission. I don't have time for this!"

Suddenly, Shigeo darted forwards. Motoi fired a shot, but Shigeo was already behind him, aiming a blow to his head with the flat of his blade. Motoi felt a  
splitting pain and tasted blood, and then...

His eyes glowed red. With a humourless laugh, he stretched his arms. Butterfly wings of delicate red light unfurled, then he jumped, a bloody flash. Before he  
could move, two gashes appeared in Shigeo's chest armour. He let out a mechanical scream and dropped to his knees. Motoi/Cyril pointed at him and several shards  
of red energy shot from his hands and hit Shigeo in the chest. The man collapsed. Motoi walked towards him and grabbed him by the head. Too late, he saw the  
portal opening up. With his last failing strength, Shigeo pulled him through. Then the portal closed and they both vanished.

Chisato's return sparked a flurry of activity.

Nobody believed that Decus and Vesper were genuine. It was just another Chisato story - implausible, full of celebrity gossip, completely unverifiable and  
somehow offensive to the Nedian Government. However, everyone wanted to know about her adventures through the Styx Gate. She was busier than she had ever been  
before, telling her story over and over again, writing articles for the Chronicle and its spin-off magazines and shows, appearing on the News at Ten, the News at  
Eleven, the News at Twelve... Then there was the business of catching up on the various events that had happened in her absence. Finally, of course, there was the  
grand event to plan.

The advertisement in the Nede Chronicle looked like this:

GRAND GALACTIC BUFFET!

A celebration of traditional food from all over the galaxy. Four of the greatest chefs in the Tria Galaxy gather here under one roof - the Retail Rabbit Grand  
Guildhall - to make all your culinary dreams come true!

Our lineup includes:

The Demon Chef of Surferio, Elicoor!  
Gourmet chef Vox Grauniad of the Royal Tetragene Hotel!  
Guildmaster Arkdain F. Rabite of the Retail Rabbit Chef's Guild!  
Our very own Decus and Vesper impersonators with their flambe delights!

Entertainment will be provided in the form of a live concert by Lionel Deguares!

30,000 fol on the door. Free entry for Styxians.

Including Decus and Vesper as chefs hadn't been part of the original plan until Decus insisted they let the two Wise Men do some cooking - and they produced the  
most delicious Rabbit a la Flambe Chisato had ever tasted in her life! They also burned down the kitchen and almost stabbed each other to death with carving  
knives, but this was beside the point. Vesper truly was a master chef. It was a side to the Wise Men that Chisato had never seen before.

It was while Chisato was planning exactly where to position the posters so that Eruaqs was likely to spot them, that she had been summoned to Archives. She didn't  
really spend much time there. Occasionally she needed to dig up some old articles but mostly she concentrated on the present, on the cutting edge news. She lifted  
Lola off her knee - the cat was old, fat and ludicrously fluffy now - and wandered down to the office, where the old man in charge waved her in. Jane Orvue and  
Lionel Deguares were also there, along with a young, spotty science officer.

"I've had the lab run some tests on your Wise Men." said the old man, "They're the genuine articles, Chisato. Their AI data was compared to a salvaged copy of  
Berle's data. It was almost identical. Where did you find them, Chisato?"

"I told you the truth."

"But these are Wise Men! They can't be..."

"Its impossible. I know."

"Chisato, if this is correct... there is only one way it could be possible." he said, "This Decus and Vesper aren't the Decus and Vesper we know. They're the  
Decus and Vesper that might have been. If a few events had happened slightly differently."

"What the..."

"Parallel worlds again?" asked Orvue.

"It is as my contact reported. Fate distortion is already taking place. History is changing."

"That can't be!" said Orvue, "If the Ten Wise Men weren't destroyed... Indalecio would have erased the Universe!"

"They're faulty." said Chisato.

"Pardon?"

"They said... something went wrong on the production line. They were deactivated."

"Like those Valkyries?" asked Lionel.

"You've got it!" the old man snapped his finger, "The C Ending is affecting the Wise Men!"

"What's a C Ending?" asked Chisato.

The old man sighed. Slowly, he explained everything that he had already said to Orvue and Deguares. Chisato gasped.

"The Seraphic Gate?" she asked, "I heard something about them! They tried to recruit Vesper, but Decus made him refuse! He said that such an organisation aren't  
really working in the interests of Tria!"

"They certainly aren't!" agreed the old man.

"Didn't you say that the Seraphic Gate were involved in the creation of the Ten Wise Men?" asked Orvue.

"There's hardly any evidence to back that up." said the old man, "It was one of the wilder rumours."

"I'm worried about the Ten Wise Men appearing in random places around the galaxy." said Chisato, "They said they were viral AI personalities. They infect people.  
Who knows what they could do if they infected someone important?"

"Well, at least they're faulty." said Deguares, "Faulty weapons can't do as much damage as ones that work properly, right?"

"Depends how they're broken." said Orvue, "What if they were designed to tell the difference between civilians and combatants, but then they couldn't any more?"

"I don't think the Ten Wise Men uphold the Geneva Convention, Jan." said Chisato.

"The Director still refuses to authorise an expedition to Midgard 3." said the old man, "She's got worse, Chisato. She won't leave her room, she won't let anyone  
else leave the station, the security is getting tighter and tighter. Please don't let this leave the room, but... I've started screening my own communications  
from her. I don't trust her any more. She scares me."

"Ah, who cares what the Director says?" Chisato shrugged, "You wanna go, I can fetch the Revorse and we'll take you!"

"You'd really disobey the Director?" Orvue gasped.

"Nothing can stop the search for the truth!" she declared. Then she paused for a second, "Although I think we should wait until after the Buffet. If what Shigeo  
said was true... if Eruaqs is Jibril... and Eruaqs is coming here... we should wait to see what happens."

"I want to do another search for Gwesty and Motoi." agreed Orvue, "I think I've got a signal down on that stolen ship."

"Until after the buffet, then." said the old man, "I'm looking forward to all that food!"

They all agreed on that point.  
--


	13. Chapter 13

Three weeks later, the Buffet took place. It was magnificently extravagant - everything it was planned to be and more.

In the Grand Guildhall - a building that looked more like an opera house than a meeting place, except for its unfortunate low ceilings and small chairs - the  
massive oak tables with their Orihalcon filigree were piled high with food - sushi from the aquatic planets, steak from Klaus III, cakes from Tetragene, fruit  
from Roak and a whole roast Bunny from Expel were some of the things on offer. The Killer Chef made an Ozoni of Madness, while Vox Grauniad made a delicious 1-Up  
Pudding, the Retail Rabbit Guildmaster made platefuls of Toro Tuna and Vesper made an interesting Ice Cream Flambe for desert. Chisato couldn't stop her mouth  
from watering as she described it to the camera.

Then the guests piled in from all over the galaxy. A few important dignitaries had turned up and it was Orvue's job to welcome them all. He knew the names and  
correct titles for each person. Lionel Deguares set up the stage for his performance. The soundsystem was finally behaving itself, although the loss of Motoi  
dulled Lionel's spirits when he wanted to rejoice. He felt like giving up even more than ever. His songs would be depressing tonight - but then again, they were  
always depressing.

"Let's all meet up on the Game Over Screen, on the Game Over Screen let's meet up." he sang to the tune of 'Confidence in the Domination', "Nations will rise and  
nations will fall, Game Over Screen is no bar to my call, you cannot win if you don't fight at all..."

"Hey, Lionel!" a voice called. He looked up half-heartedly from the microphone stand that kept tipping over. It was Chisato.

"How're you feeling?" she asked.

"Right now I'm feeling... an overwhelming sense of peace." he said vaguely.

"That's nice." said Chisato, beaming at him.

"Chisato, do you ever feel responsible for... you know... the death of the President of Eternal Sphere? There's the Head of  
Security. Right over there." he pointed to the huge black man, "Maybe we should go turn ourselves in. I mean, we're kinda responsible... he was fighting against  
us, and we were winning..."

"You do that. Don't forget your Resurrection Bottles!" she said cheerfully.

"CON-fidence in the dom-i-NA-tion, in the dom-i-NA-tion..." he sang, ignoring her.

"The chefs are being judged soon." she said, "Who do you think will win? I've got my money on Vesper!"

"Valkyrie, Valkyrie, Valkyrie, Valkyrie, tell me my per-for-mance raaaaaating..."

Chisato sighed and wandered off to find her cat. She had left Lola with a big bowl of milk and a fish but the silly cat had still wandered off. Surely that was  
enough to satisfy any cat! Chisato had always said that Lola was a true reporter's cat. Never satisfied, always up to no good, always poking her nose where it  
didn't belong. She hoped Lola wasn't upsetting any tables.

It was while she was looking under a few of those tables that she found Eruaqs.

The young man was crouching under the dessert table, his face covered in pie. In one hand he held a large fish. Lola was attempting to tug the fish away from him.  
All around him were the remains of previously devoured meals - cakes, pies, fish, steak, vegetables and one of the Killer Chef's Ozoni. He had been very busy.  
Lola hissed at him and scratched him across the leg. The young man kicked out, sending Lola spinning from under the table and tripping up a Retail Rabbit.

"MY fish!" he growled, before slinking back off into the corner to enjoy his meal.

"Eruaqs?" called Chisato. Startled, the young man jumped up, hit his head on the table and dropped the fish. Just then, they were both distracted by the  
lights dimming and the crowd murmuring. The winner of the Golden Ladle Award was being announced.

Vesper won.

The two Wise Men went berserk. Roaring a Klausian victory chant at the tops of their voices, they wrestled each other, Vesper accidentally setting small fires on  
the stage twice. Lionel played 'Confidence in the Domination' for them while the security guards attempted to drag them offstage. Chisato met them in the dressing  
room. Eruaqs was following her, chattering excitedly about her latest articles on the Styx Gate and fending off an angry cat. Upon seeing him, Vesper's face  
creased into an even wider grin.

"JIBRIL!" the burly man grabbed him in a strong embrace. Eruaqs screamed and desperately tried to fend him off. Decus ran over and wrenched his brother away,  
giving Eruaqs a chance to dart under a table.

"Stop that! You know Jibril doesn't like to be touched!" said Decus, poking his head under the table, "Hey, Jibril! You can come out now! Vesper says sorry! Say  
sorry, Vesper!"

"Sorry, Vesper." repeated Vesper.

"We've got your power limiter!" said Decus, taking the mask out of his pockets and dangling it in front of Eruaqs, who glared at them balefully. At the sight of  
the mask, he became bemused. He stared at it for a few minutes. It was very pretty. He liked metal things and he suspected it was some sort of artistic cyberwear.

"Its okay, Jibril, we'll be here for you from now on!" yelled Vesper, "We're your friends! We'll find a cybernetic surgeon and help you put it back on so the  
headaches will go away! Then we'll go find Ruprecht and Nicolus and Marsilio and... and..."

Eruaqs slowly reached out a hand and grabbed the mask. It really was beautiful. It looked like a theatre mask. When he put it on his face, he found that it fit  
him perfectly. His mind ticked away as he tried to remember some lines from a play. He was always sneaking into them and being thrown out, so he must have  
remembered something!

"... And Indalecio!" finished Vesper, gasping for breath. Decus hit him.

"So, will you come with us, Jibril?" asked Decus, his intense stare boring into Eruaqs' eyes.

The young man crawled out from under the table, stood up and lifted himself up to his full height.

"I ain't no Jibril." he said, pushing the mask into Decus' arms, "I'm Eruaqs na Od. An' if you EVER try an' put new personalities in my brain again without  
askin' me... I'll friggin' REINTEGRATE 'em!"

The two Wise Men just stood and stared, Decus looking slighty affronted, Vesper just confused.

"Styxians got lotsa personalities." said Eruaqs, "But we make 'em. We choose 'em. We treat 'em well an' they don't break down. An' when one does break down, we  
use another one 'till its workin' again. That way, we always gots a personality. A personality's the only thing about ya that's truly yours. Ya shouldn't jus'...  
put it on the Internet!"

"Sorry, Jibril!" muttered Vesper. Decus slapped him again.

"He just said he ain't no Jibril!"

He turned around and dragged Vesper out of the dressing room, still clutching his Golden Ladle Award. Chisato blinked. I never know what's going on around Eruaqs,  
she thought.

"Let's go back to the Chronicle." she suggested. Then the alarm sounded. Explosions rocked the building. Chisato's comm device bleeped and a familiar face  
appeared on the display. It was the old man from Archives.

"Something's happening down here." she told him.

"I know." he replied, a note of panic in his voice, "Its Marietta. She's out of control."

"What?"

"She's been hacked, Chisato."

"The Director's unhackable!"

"She's not the Director any more." said the old man, "She's Marsilio."  
--


	14. Chapter 14

Lezard Valeth peered around him and gasped. He couldn't believe this destruction had been wrought by his own hand. Molten steel and glass flowed in rivers around  
him. The husks of broken machines lay strewn like half-eaten carcasses. Twisted cables hung from the remnants of the shattered ceiling. Slivers of blue light,  
cold, wispy phantoms, drifted forlornly through the air. They were fragments of the Phane. It was dead now. He had slain it.

Where was Arianrod? Had his master perished in the explosion? What was left of the Tower anyway? Was this the only room? Experimentally, he walked out of the one  
remaining usable door. One side of the room had been torn off completely, plunging downwards into an insanely incomplete void that panicked him at such a  
primordial level that he was forced to flee for his very data integrity. Two more directions led back into the same room. That was his fear - that he was stuck.  
That he had broken the mechanism incomparably and trapped himself inside a tiny, faulty dimension for all eternity. But no, there in front of him was a portal. A  
roiling, surging portal of white light. Not pure white - a kind of dirty monochrome that offended him. But an exit all the same from this cold, dead dimensional  
graveyard. He leapt through it...

He flinched and jumped back. The portal was gone. Stood before him was Arianrod. He didn't look angry. Lezard expected him to look angry by now. To punish him,  
maybe. No, he looked happy.

"Well done, my apprentice." he sad, clapping his hands, "How ingenious of you, changing the order of the switches like that to trick the Phane into entering Room  
12! I was wondering if you'd been paying attention to anything I taught you."

"It's destroyed." said Lezard.

"Indeed, indeed."

"You aren't angry?"

The rabbit burst into laughter.

"Stupid apprentice!" he roared, "Don't you understand even a simple procedure? I wanted that Phane destroyed! Its the only way to unleash all its energy at once!  
How else would I unlock this fine establishment?"

He motioned with a sweep of his hand to the room they stood in. It was indeed beautiful. Too big for Lezard to comprehend the dimensions, it was made of a fine  
silvery metal that glowed yellow in the artificial light. Both flamboyantly gothic and elegantly mechanical, it looked like some Byzantine cyber-Cathedral. Every  
square of it that didn't contain a three-triangled emblem had a carving of an angel. Lezard recognised the music. Everyone recognised 'Mission to the Deep Space'.

"Behold, the Seraphic Gate!" yelled Arianrod exultantly, "A paradise beyond the eternal struggle between the A, B and C endings! It will exist even when the C  
Ending, made manifest by our technology, guided by our hand, reduces the outside world to Empty Space. This is it, Lezard - Tria's Throne! The Deep Space! The  
mission is over! We shall be Tria's archangels, Lezard, we shall sit at her right hand side!"

"How does it work?" asked Lezard, peering curiously at everything. I am what I am, he mused. I must know. I must learn.

"Ah, that's more like the Lezard Valeth I know!" Arianrod slapped him on the back, "It works the same way as a Phane, boy, but the exact opposite. It stores A  
Endings. Every possible positive outcome we need... it will all happen at once! Tria's perfect existence!"

"Will it make me graduate?" he asked hopefully. Arianrod burst into laughter again.

"I have a more important role for you, boy!"

"What do you mean?" What is he using me for now?

"Think, boy, think. Its simple. So simple..." he muttered to himself, sounding even more deranged than usual, "Haven't you ever wondered why the Phane liked you  
so much? All that thing did was drain fate... and you were a beacon of light to it! It was mostly powered by your own vestigial fate! Wizard's apprentices,  
they're all the same. They don't know when to stop. You, boy, are an infinite C Ending generator! Now, what do you think would happen if I untapped all that energy at once in a raw form? I have a machine that can do that, you know..."

"I have another question for you, sir."

"What do you want to know?"

"What if I don't want to be strapped to a machine today?" he asked, "What if I want to do something else? Like... graduate!"

Arianrod jumped, his ears reflexively flopping over his face as a protective measure. The music had changed. 'Vestigial Dream' was now playing. Behind him, two  
figures had teleported into the room. One was a young man in a black suit humming the tune under his breath, a cruel smile on his lips. The other was an  
expressionless man in battered cybernetic armour. His damage sensors glowed red and so did his eyes.

"Who are you?" whispered Arianrod, his voice shaking.

"We are Lezard Valeth's... golems." whispered Shigeo.

"We are figments of the Vestigial Dream." said Cyril, "We are here to see the new Archangel of Tria to his throne. You are no longer required."

"No! Not in here! You can't come in here!" screamed the rabbit, running at them in a desperate attempt to push them back. Shigeo grabbed him by the throat, lifted  
him into the air and threw him away.

"The Seraphic Gate had their turn. Now the world shall be fashioned in the image of Lezard Valeth." said Cyril, "You are not part of his world."

"Please... not that... any ending but that..." Arianrod was wide-eyed in horror now, grasping at something unseen. Shigeo's eyes flared blood-red and he shot the  
scientist in the head.

The Battle Fortress Chronicle that Chisato returned to was a place of chaos.

The old man met them at the door. He said nothing, but pointed at the sky. They milled like enormous white ants. Drones, automated ships, even a few battle  
fortresses... thousands of them... all heading towards the Chronicle, all in attack formation. Chisato knew that they had been ordered to wipe the station off  
the map. They would probably succeed. Even as heavily defended as it was, a tiny space station couldn't fend off a galactic army. Especially when their general  
had defected.

"Marsilio!" yelled Vesper, pointing inside the station. Decus was still staring down at the mask. It had upset him more than Chisato realised, losing Jibril  
so soon after finding him. She didn't know the Wise Men had feelings. But then, she hadn't known they could cook or have religious conviction either.

"We mustn't go in there." Decus explained finally, "Marsilio is very, very faulty."

"Then we must fix her!"

"We're going to find Cyril!" said Decus enthusiastically, hoping to change the subject.

"I don't like Cyril! I want Marsilio!"

"What should we do?" Chisato asked the old man, "What CAN we do? This is the entire defence system we're talking about! We don't have an army of XINE behind us  
any more."

"Don't look at me like its my fault." muttered Eruaqs sullenly.

"You're a reporter, Chisato. Go where the news is." said Orvue, "I'll stay and fight. You have to go to Midgar 3."

"But..." she yelled, "I can't just leave the Chronicle to its fate! The Chronicle is my home! Its my life! I have nothing else!"

"Trust me, Chisato, I have a contingency plan." he said, "Have I ever let you down before?"

"There's nothing you can really do to help at this stage anyway." said the old man, "Your skills are more useful out there on Midgar 3. We're relying on you,  
Chisato, to bring back some news. I suggest you take Eruaqs with you as well. His mind is the only known defense against the virus and you'll need one of you  
free of corruption if anything does go wrong."

"I will go too!" said Vesper. Decus gave him an odd look. The huge man clenched his fists, his hair aflame with the heraldic fire-magic flowing through his veins.

"VESPER WILL PURIFY THE HERETICS!" he bellowed to the heavens at the top of his voice.

"If my brother goes, I will go too." said Decus, "We are strong. We will help you."

"We are very, very strong!" agreed Vesper.

"See? You have many brave allies. I'm sure Commander Revorse will help you as well if you pay her some more money." said the old man, smiling.

"I'm not sure I'd call these people my allies." said Chisato nervously. She turned to Orvue, "Are you sure you can handle this?"

"One phone call is all it'll take. Trust me. One phone call."

"Look after the cat for me. Don't overfeed him!"

"I promise."

Smiling, Chisato walked back to ship.  
--


	15. Chapter 15

The first wave of drones swooped down towards the space station. Battle Fortress Chronicle responded with a volley of laser cannon fire, cluster neutron bombs and  
a nova cannon. The attackers were vapourised. Chisato cheered but she knew that there were hundreds more waves where that came from, as well as at least ten  
battle fortresses twice the size of the Chronicle. Soon, despite their efforts, the Chronicle would be overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers. She didn't want to  
look. She didn't want to see her home destroyed. And yet, she wanted to gaze at it one last time before it was gone. She was the only witness to the Chronicle's  
last stand. She knew that Jan Orvue would fight to the very end.

Five scout ships left the Chronicle and went into stealth mode. She prayed to Tria that it was the beginning of an evacuation. The next wave of attackers had  
arrived. A Nova cannon was hit. The defenses were struggling, the shields flickering. Chisato watched as the ships sped away and the battle raged. The sky lit up  
red by laser fire from either side, pouring like crimson rain. A lucky shot from a drone had found a hole in the shields and a small fire had broken out in one of  
the bays. Now a battleship drifted away from its place in the line and headed towards the Chronicle like a shark smelling blood. Chisato gripped the strap of her  
camera until her knuckles where white. Jan... Lionel... Lola... please let them be safe...

Then a new ship appeared on the radar. It was neither a Chronicle ship nor the Trian galactic military. Quickly, it was followed by another, then another, in what  
was unmistakeably an attack formation. As they sped closer to the Chronicle, Chisato recognised their blue paintwork and their yellow corporate logos. The Eternal  
Sphere security force. What did they want?

Chisato jumped in surprise when the corporate ships began firing upon the galactic drones! Several of them broke off from their attack and turned upon the new  
assailants. More and more bright blue ships flooded into view. They must have sent out their entire army, thought Chisato. But why? Eternal Sphere hate us!

"Oh, they'll fight for anyone who pays them. They're a bunch of mercenaries really."

Chisato stared at Orvue's face as it appeared on the screen.

"I'm afraid we're bankrupt again, but I assure you I can make up the money." he said, smiling at Chisato's expression, "Don't look away. There's more where that  
came from."

As he was talking, another set of ships appeared. Delicate and alien in design, they reminded her of wireless games console controllers. They had a purple colour  
scheme. Their spectacular engagement into the battle was accompanied by Commander Revorse's frantic cheering.

"Fargettian government in exile." explained Orvue, "They like the good press we give them. Holy Tria, but they have terrifying weapons! I wouldn't want to duel a  
Fargettian... ah, here comes trouble."

Chisato looked at the observation port again. A fleet of large chunky ships in standard military green wheeled across the sky, looking like dustbins. Chisato  
recognised them.

"Earth Federation battle cruisers now?" she asked, "What in Tria's name did you do to get them not to attack us?"

"Well... I told them a little lie." he admitted, "They sort of think that the galactic drones are trying to pass through the Chronicle on their way to attack  
Earth. Well, we ARE between Central Hub and Earth! Sort of..."

He looked at his watch, "Where are the Tetragenionts? I specifically told them to be on time! Did they pick a fight with the Klausians on the way again?"

"Jan..." Chisato sighed, "What the fuck?"

"This, my dear, is the true power of the Nede Chronicle." he said, smiling, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I promised the Tetrageniont General a cup of tea."

The screen went blank. Chisato just stared. The galactic forces were being annihilated, now attacked on all sides by ten different armies. Decus and Vesper ran  
in.

"Hey, Chisato! We're placing bets! Who do you think are better, the Fargettians or the Klausians?" asked Vesper.

"The Klausians will win." Decus told him firmly.

"They're both pathetic in comparison to Jan Orvue and the Nede Chronicle." Chisato replied, beaming. Then she frowned, "Is that a XINE flock?"

"You lot! Leave the battle alone and come up here!" Commander Revorse yelled over the intercom. They all ran to the bridge, except Eruaqs, who was asleep.  
The Commander was pointing to a large white sphere. Central Hub.

"That's Midgard 2, so we should be close to Midgard 3." Commander Revorse said, "I wonder what the planet looks like!"

"Chisato..." said Commander Revorse, her voice slightly hushed, "That IS Midgard 3."

"Where?" the reporter leaned across to get a closer look. She saw nothing but the blackness of space and the occasional clump of blue dust like the debris of a  
supernova.

"That's where Midgard 3 used to be." said Commander Revorse, "Its been destroyed. Chisato, the whole planet's been destroyed."

"What's that?" asked Decus, pointing to a single point of bright white light in the middle of the devastation. Commander Revorse zoomed in on it.

"That's a wormhole!"

"Maybe it was caused by whatever caused the destruction!" suggested Chisato.

"We have to avoid it! We don't know what's in there! It'll probably rip us apart!" said the Commander. Chisato shook her head.

"News." said Chisato firmly, "What's in there is news. We're going straight in."  
--


	16. Chapter 16

"Marsilio is awakened." said Shigeo tonelessly.

"I know." replied Cyril. He had been staring out into space, humming the tune to 'The Counterfeit Self'. The former Bard sat on the right of what had once been  
the Iselia Queen's great throne, while Shigeo sat to the left. On the seat itself, set into the wall, wired to the heart of the great apparatus that was all of  
the Seraphic Gate, sat Lezard Valeth. His eyes rolled back into his head. He longer seemed to respond to stimuli from the outside world. That infuriating grin of  
his was frozen onto his face as though he was a character in an Eternal Sphere game that had crashed.

Shigeo's job was to patrol the Seraphic Gate but it didn't look like there would be much left of it soon. It was decaying under their feet, slowly dying of the  
entropy it was producing. There were monsters guarding the Gate too - things from Lezards imagination. Dragons, huge wolves with razor teeth and spikes down their  
backs, fiends that rose from ancient crypts and giant floating hands and eyeballs with teeth. Now they wandered the remains of crumbling corridors, unable to  
understand what was happening to the world they were created to guard.

Decay. Despair. Fallen dreams. That was Lezard's nature. The Fallen Son of Tria who would never grow wings. A perfect master for the ten faulty  
sentinels. Yes, they would fit perfectly in the new world.

It didn't take him long to discover the dead wolf. Its charred corpse lay discarded on the floor next to the pile of zombies, the three Assassin Eyes, the mummy  
and the Valkyrie clone they had been working on, who had been dismembered. Blood was plastered everywhere. Shigeo examined the grisly scene thoughtfully.  
Intruders, he decided. Powerful ones. As powerful as him, maybe more powerful. And with the amount of senseless violence and burning...

He teleported back to his master's side.

"Intruders." he reported, then added, "Decus and Vesper."

Cyril's eyes flashed red. He turned his head around. Then the door exploded under the weight of a gout of fire that roared as it rushed into the room, scorching  
the opposite wall. Shigeo dove for cover. Several more fireballs followed it, then a sheet of flame that covered the floor. Cyril laughed and jumped into the air,  
his wings spreading. A force field appeared around Lezard Valeth.

They burst through the smoldering hole where the door had been. Decus, Vesper, Chisato Madison, Commander Revorse and Eruaqs na Od.

"Welcome." smirked Cyril. A look of primal rage passed over Vesper's face and he threw a fireball at the man, who dodged easily aside, "Why so angry to see me,  
Vesper? Look, I found Shigeo for you. And a new friend! He's just as powerful as Indalecio! He destroyed a planet! Did you see?"

Vesper shook his head stubbornly, "Indalecio is stronger! Indalecio is very, very strong! He can destroy many planets! He can destroy the whole Universe!"

"And so can we!" said Cyril calmly, "Would you like to see that, Vesper? Soon we shall all be back together again. All ten of us. And we shall complete the task  
we were created for! We shall realise our dream!"

"THERE IS NO DREAM BUT THE VESTIGIAL DREAM!"

Shigeo's eyes were blank as he marched towards Cyril, his blades drawn.

"You betray me also, Shigeo?" asked Cyril, sighing, "What happened to the filial loyalty of the Wise Men?"

"I WILL SERVE LEZARD VALETH!" Shigeo swiped at him. Cyril idly parried the sword with a shield of crimson energy and thrust his hand forwards, grabbing Shigeo by  
the throat. His supernaturally strong grip crushed the metal of Shigeo's neck. Vesper roared an flung a gout of flame at him but it dissipated off a force field.  
With a sickening crunch, Cyril's hand punched through Shigeo's neck and the cyborg fell to the floor. Cyril turned around, his eyes flaring, and rushed Chisato.

Then another figure dropped down from the ceiling. Landing between the reporter and the Wise Man, the young man floated above the ground, his arms folded, his  
thick brown hair flowing around him. It looked like Eruaqs, but Chisato could tell that it wasn't.

"Stop fighting each other." he ordered in a sad tone of voice, one of someone who was tired and faintly disgusted with the Universe, "NOW!"

"INDALECIO!" yelled Vesper, running up to him with arms outstretched. Decus pulled him back. Eruaqs glared at Cyril, then walked past him to observe Shigeo on the  
floor.

"Broken." he said, "A Wise Man, rendered inoperative by the hand of another. You will fix him, Cyril. Or do you want to argue with me? Do you see a  
power limiter anywhere?"

"S... sorry, boss!" said Cyril.

"Eruaqs?" asked Chisato, her voice shaking.

"He can have it back whenever he wants. I'm only being allowed to borrow it for a few minutes." Indalecio told her, "You should leave here. I don't know what's  
happened here, but I personally want no part in it. I just want to take my men home."

"I won't leave without the fascinating news story!" said Chisato, clenching her fists.

"Besides, whatever is in here destroyed a planet and is slowly destroying the galaxy. Its important that we stop it." said Commander Revorse.

Indalecio laughed bitterly, "I care not. I would happily see the annihilation of the entire Universe..."

Suddenly, an unearthly scream of mortal agony rent the air. It came from Lezard Valeth. His eyes were wide open and he was convulsing, pulling frantically at the  
wires, frothing at the mouth. Every machine in the building began beeping wildly. Then the light became brighter and brighter until the world was consumed by  
silver light. Lezard let out another scream, then clusters of blue light formed around him like a brilliant aura, before shaping themselves into a pair of wings  
that unfurled. He flew upwards, his arms outstretched, wires falling away from his body. His book fell out of his hand and the pages started falling out and  
disintegrating into the same blue light, then turning into a flurry of feathers. Chisato felt an urge to fall to her knees. Looking around her, she saw that  
everyone else had done so, except Vesper, who was rolling around on the floor speaking in tongues. The light flared up around her, filling her senses with such a  
rhapsody of utter joy that she thought for a moment that there would never again be anything but this ecstasy of perfect completeness. Then she was back again,  
lying on the floor, sweat pouring from her body. 'Beast of Prey' was playing. The floor was covered in feathers and paper. The Wise Men were gone. Eruaqs - she  
could tell it was Eruaqs again - and Commander Revorse were slowly picking themselves up off the floor.

"What... happened?" she gasped.

"I dunno..." said Commander Revorse blearily.

"He finally graduated."  
--


	17. Chapter 17

It was an unfamiliar voice, female and confident. A voice used to command. Chisato looked behind her and saw a tall, slim,  
golden-haired woman floating in the air, her hands on her hips. Beside her was a younger woman with golden braided hair, who wore a gleaming breastplate, plated  
boots and a helmet with wings. A sword hung at her belt.

"Is that..."

"Its me. Gwesty." she said, smiling.

"Performance Rating 99." said the older woman, "Even the faultiest machine can be fixed."

"How dare you call Gwesty a faulty machine!" said Chisato, "She's an adorable little girl. What have you done to her?"

"Its okay, Chisato. I'm still me." insisted Gwesty.

"Only her fate is different." said the woman, "A few decisions were made - decisions made by others that weren't her fault. But they're changed now. This is  
Lezard's world. The world that he really wanted to exist. There was no possible world in which he could graduate, so he made his own world, with new  
possibilities. He must have decided that the rule applied to everyone who was being held back by the C Ending."

"Will the galaxy be okay now?" asked Commander Revorse.

"There are a few glitches, but I am fixing them."

"Pardon me, but... who are you?" asked Chisato.

"Your contact." she said, smiling, "It's Freya. The retired Director of the Court of Tria. Please don't tell anyone my location. I want to do my job in peace  
without the trappings of politics. You see, I must watch over all of Tria's galaxy."

"Is Gwesty going with you?"

"I'm afraid so. A Valkyrie's place is by Freya's side." said Gwesty, "And I don't want to return to the Chronicle right now. I'm very sad about what happened to  
Motoi."

"They took him back with them." explained Eruaqs, "He's Cyril now."

"Like I said, there are still a few problems to iron out." said Freya, "Come, we must leave as soon as possible."

Gwesty reached over and hugged Chisato. Then she jumped into the air after Freya and the two women flew off.

"We should get back to the Revorse." said Commander Revorse, "I really don't like this place."

"It's Lezard's place now." agreed Chisato, "Wherever he is and whatever he's doing."

Eruaqs said nothing but stared at the pretty lights while he followed the others back to the ship.

They arrived back at the Chronicle eventually. To Chisato's relief, it was still intact, although the space debris piled up around it practically obscured it from  
view. Commander Revorse joked that it would make a good shield for them to hide behind next time the nosy reporters upset an entire army. Orvue greeted them at  
the gate.

"What happened to you all? Where's the Wise Men?" he demanded.

"It's a long story." she said, grinning, "Hey, you lied to me! That couldn't have possibly taken only one phone call!"

"Hey, I only made the one call. These guys made the rest."

He led them into the station. It was full of Retail Rabbits. They were everywhere. A very old Rabbit in a grav-wheelchair intercepted Orvue as soon as he walked  
in. He wore black ceremonial robes and a long wig. In one hand, he carried a ceremonial orihalcon mallet. His long fluffy fur was pure black.

"Chisato, this is Guildmaster Alaster Rabillion, the famous Black Rabbit of Resonia. Al, this is Chisato Madison, ace reporter."

"Pleased to meet you, Chisato." he extended a furry hand for her to shake.

"His guild funded the entire operation and did most of the calls and paperwork." said Orvue, "We owe them a big favour."

"No, we are the ones who owe much." said the old Rabbit, frowning, "Retail Rabbit guilds are held responsible for the actions of their members. What Arianrod  
did with the money we gave him was inexcusable. And to think that he was my grandson!"

"I don't understand..." said Chisato.

"The weapons on Midgard 3 were developed by Retail Rabbits." explained Orvue.

"Please do not think that all Retail Rabbits are the same." said Alaster, "We are persecuted on every planet we try to settle on. They call us thieves, swindlers,  
put us behind all sorts of conspiracy theories. We are only a people trying to make a name for ourselves!"

"You are welcome here any time, Guildmaster." promised Orvue, "But I don't think you'd like it. We're a non-profit organisation."

He laughed, "Still, I wish I knew what happened to that poor apprentice of his. I always knew he wasn't treating the boy well. Did he die in the explosion?"

"Oh, he's fine." said Chisato, grinning, "He's absolutely fine. He's doing well for himself."

"That's good to know." said the old man.

"Well, I have work to do." said Chisato, "Where's the Director."

"She's taken heavy damage. She's going to need completely overhauling. The Retail Rabbits are taking her away to be fixed."

"How's Lionel taking it?"

"How do you think? He's locked himself in the basement. I didn't even know we had a basement."

Chisato looked over at Eruaqs, "What about you? What are you going to do now?"

"Dunno." he stared at the floor. Then he snapped his fingers and smiled. "I know! You distract the bunny an' I'll pull his ears!"

"Would you mind if I interviewed you?" asked Chisato, "About Styx? I went through the Gate thirty times, I looked everywhere for Styx, but I couldn't find it. I really want to meet someone from Styx and find out about their life."

Eruaqs burst into laughter.

"What's funny?" she asked, offended. Everyone was laughing at her today, even rabbits.

"Don't ya get it?" he said, "We've been followin' you and hidin' behind things the entire time!"

"Oh!" Chisato blushed. Then she started laughing too. The old Rabbit smiled. He pushed a long floppy ear out of the way of one of his eyes. That boy's got potential, he thought.  
--


End file.
